Wishing I were Jewish

My five year-old, who loves to look at the calendar and remind us of unusual holidays, pointed out this morning that Passover starts at sundown tonight (she also spent all day Sunday trying to trick us for April Fool's Day). Anyway, this afternoon I was trying (in vain) to take a little nap, since Maren decided that 4:30 was an acceptable wake up time this morning. Annie and Isaac were watching Max and Ruby in the other room, and Annie ran in two or three times to ask me when we were going to do our spring cleaning, because apparently Ruby was doing her spring cleaning.

I don't have Ruby's drive or her bossy nature, but if I were Jewish, I'd have a spanking clean house today. It's hard for me to remember exactly what Passover is about (not exactly true, I went to seminary and know it has to do with the children of Israel and leaving an empty seat for Elijah) but the thing I know best about Passover is that every crumb of leavened bread needs to be expunged from the household prior to sunset on the first evening of Passover.

I don't have the energy to do my spring cleaning right now. I can think of a million things that need to be done-- organizing the pantry, pulling out the stove and fridge and washer and cleaning behind them, washing the baseboards and the light fixtures and the blades on the ceiling fans, planting zinnias around the tree in the front yard, finally hauling that bag of old clothes sitting on my bedroom floor to the Salvation Army, tossing out all of the Happy Meal toys that have accumulated in the playroom, (re)organizing my craft closet, and a million other tedious jobs that would make my house better and help me feel more accomplished.

Most days, I'm glad I'm a Mormon. I feel at home in my religion and I feel like it has enough rules and regulations to keep me motivated ("ah but a man's reach should exceed his grasp" and all that), but today I wish I were a Jew. I might not have the fulness of the gospel, but I'd have a really clean house. 

--originally published 4/2/07