The Newness of Spring - March 19, 2021 - A Pandemic Parenting Note

​Rituals anchor us in time and move us through spaces that otherwise lack boundaries. We’re coming up on the holiday most laden with at-home, DIY rituals. Passover is known as Chag HaAviv, the Festival of Spring, and is considered one of the four New Years of the Hebrew Calendar. 
 
The egg on the seder plate symbolizes this cycle of return (it’s why there are eggs at Easter and before that Ostara, the celebration of the Spring Equinox). 
 
Time can either pass us by and run roughshod over us, or we can hold on for the ride. Even if the past year has felt like the former, I invite you into the possibility of the latter. Grab hold of this season of newness, embrace the light, relish in the remaining dark, nourish yourself with the promise of new things to come, and turn it all into a ritual. Do it daily. Marvel in the changes happening in the world around you; point them out to your children and teach them about wonder and newness. 
 
For even though the pandemic wears on, the Daffodils have sprung once again from the earth, and the blossoms are bursting open on the trees. We can either let it pass us by, or we can be present with it, knowing that this season will turn into the next, and the next, and the next.