Bitter Herbs

Eunoia Review 2016 Singapore

My cousin Frannie said that her mother was the favorite child.

Alana said in no uncertain terms that she was the favored grandchild.

My brother told me one night that I was adopted and that’s why I’m the only one of the four kids without freckles.

My mother said my father was having an affair.

My father said that my mother and the truth are strangers.

My grandfather says “Feh” when one of his nine daughters says something about another daughter.

Only my mother and her sister Jen will host Passover Seders.

My grandmother pretends she doesn’t understand English but she often goes out on the porch alone and giggles for no apparent reason.

At any one time I will have at least three aunts or uncles not speaking to each other but all denying it.

Funerals bring my family together as do major illnesses. New births can go either way.

Every aunt believes they know how much money their sisters have socked away and begrudge them for it.

All of these statements took place during last year’s Passover Seder—the first night.