This was going to be a hectic treatment recovery because Daria was on Spring break, Passover began on Wednesday (treatment was on Tuesday), and the Faces for a Friend celebration was planned for Saturday and Sunday was Easter! Oh, and just to complicate matters, I was in class the weekend before. Max wasn't able to arrive until Thursday, so I made arrangements for Daria to spend a few days with her grandparents. They fed the ducks, they went to the library and picked out movies and books, and they had a fun trip to the beach. Daria was especially excited about the toy "Sugar Glider" she was given at the arcade.
The Rose Angel made another appearance the day before treatment. I'm grateful for the loving encouragement for my journey.
My parents arrived on Wednesday with Daria and Mom had prepared and lugged along an entire Passover seder for Wednesday and Thursday. For the first night of Passover, Daria read us her special Passover book from school and we all participated in the "Plague Puppetry" (don't ask). We had a guest for dinner that night, our friend David, who had never experienced a seder before. We enjoyed sharing our tradition with him, especially hiding the afikomen. Daria and David both received special gifts for finding their afikomen.
For the second night of Passover, Aunt Max arrived with kosher beef and sour salt, prepared to tackle yet another dish she'd never made! My grandmother, who passed away in February, always made a beef borscht (beet soup) for Passover. I wanted to recreate her recipe, and tried to keep it a secret as a surprise for my mom... but as we got into the preparation process it became clear we had to clue Mom in because my tastebuds have been heavily impacted by treatment, and Max didn't know what the dish was supposed to taste like! So Mom joined in and the borscht was a team effort. It was the same bright pink color it used to be and tasted just like Grandma's.
