My father, Lester M. Peters, is the man wearing the fez on the camel furthest right.
This morning. I woke up and began opening the window blinds, part of my starting-of-the-day ritual. On the window sill my eyes fell on a photo of my father in Egypt. He is young, on a camel, wearing a fez and in front of pyramids and the Sphinx. The photo has been there for a while but this morning I saw it in a different light. Probably because this morning is the last preparations for the week of Passover. Tonight is the first seder when we "leave" Egypt. Seeing this photo was, dare I say, picture-perfect for my present spiritual condition. What was my father thinking? Where did he imagine his life was going? He was in the military and these are no doubt his work buddies. My mother tells me it was taken in 1942 almost ten years before they would meet and marry. Alas I will never know since my father died many years ago. Still I have this photo and it a piece of frozen time I can enjoy just like a painting you don't know the artist's reason for creating.
Apple slices, green tea, vitamins, water and steel-cut oats with berries.
This morning. I know this Pesach will be different this year because of the change in my diet that started in September. Every other year I would look forward to and partially dread the last chance to eat chametz. I would be going to a local cafe for a last cafe au lait and chocolate croissant. I thought about this as I went to sleep last night. Hmmm. Should I still go and eat and drink as usual, part of being a free soul? Or perhaps being free meant I could now change to something new that would speak to who I am and where I am currently. Bread in all its many wonderful carnations has become a much lesser part of my life well except for the winter trip to India where high-tea and sweets seemed part of the culture. In the end I took the path not previously chosen. Instead of croissant I had oats. Instead of cafe au lait I had coconut/almond milk carob honey drink. To round it out I had a piece of chocolate matzah. Not feeling deprived which is a good thing.
Coconut/almond milk carob honey drink and the remains of chocolate matzah.
This morning. So what is the small lesson I can take away from this ? Change happens but rituals can still remain. We can hold onto the essence even as we dress it in a new way. The intention, the kavanah is the same. As Krishna tells Arjuna in the Hindu devotional text called the Bhagavad Gita "there is more than one path to God." So let it be written. So let it be done. So let let all of us continue to find our way to liberation and freedom.
