Passover and Girls Night Out

Passover is the biggest holiday there is for Jewish people. It's all about how the Jews left oppression behind (with God's help of course) and went back to being free men. The long version includes (naturally) the story of how someone tried to kill the Jews and did not succeed (again) and so we eat, and if you want to read it here is the semi-short BBC version and the even longer version. Don't get me wrong I actually like Passover, well that is not entirely true, I only like the message of the story - the from slavery to freedom thing, and the saying that in every generation everyone must see themselves as if they are the ones that were freed and make sure their children know the story (trust me, it sounds way better in hebrew), because I believe it is true, we all have things that binds us, that enslaves us and we should try and free ourselves from them.
On the other hand Passover food sucks (it's very unexplainable as far as I'm concerned but the basic is no flour and yeast), the real story has some unpleasant concepts I would rather spare my kids, and the whole concept of big extended family dinners is too much for me anyway, so why bother?
This year we added the fact that I was unsure which metaphorical slavery we were escaping (I like to have one, it makes the holiday more relatable), Passover eve (when you eat) was on Monday, and the money and energy were too low for cooking a big meal.
So we didn't bother with the traditional Passover.
Instead we had a week-long visit from my friend who came over from Israel and a pizza-dinner with my brother & his wife.

That's me drinking coffee. All the photos in this post are my friend's since I am no good in scenery photos...

And as it turned out, I did escape some metaphorical chains this Passover. For the first time ever I took 2 whole "me days". Hidai worked from home and was in charge of the kids and I went out with my friend (she said no names so I'm honoring her request). We went shopping, we went to see an exhibition in a real grown-up museum, we saw a musical, we drank coffee without rushing, we did not enter the Disney store, M&M world, Hamley's, or any other kids-related or boys-related activity.
My friend is way posher than me, so we visited all the designer boutiques and stores I usually feel intimidated by, like they know I don't have enough money to buy anything, and what can I say? after viewing everything, I still feel intimidated, but I also didn't see anything I wanted and after having to put my Aldo bag on the floor at Starbucks numerous times this week I still don't get how you're supposed to leave the house with a £400 bag...

Burberry on Regent St.

If anyone wants to buy me a birthday gift though, I do understand how you leave the house with those  (fine, I will probably settle for these also)... But I digress, the point of the story was not to encourage you to buy me birthday jewellery (I would also like a Kindle), even though my birthday is next month.
The point of the story was that I have never ever ever left my kids to just stroll around the city. In the last 8 years (Ron's birthday is also coming up) I abandoned my kids five times - 1 night away when Ron was a year old, when I went into labor, when we flew to Gibraltar to plan the relocation and 2 romantic vacations with Hidai (both were spent shopping in London. Romance is our strong suit). Do you see a common theme? I had Hidai with me, and it was always for a "thing", but I've never just left them all and went shopping for a day. Actually, even more embarrassing, I haven't gone out (for dinner or a show or a movie or whatever) without Hidai even once in our 12 (something) years together. I can't say I haven't thought about it (especially when I get totally frustrated with all of them, or when Hidai doesn't understand what's it like to be the one "left behind"), but I've never done it. Now I did, and I thank my friend for it, because if it weren't for her I don't think I would have ever done it. I've been waiting for her visit and for the "going out" experience for quite some time now. How did it feel? Wonderful. and Awful. First of all I was super excited, and kept saying "yay! I can't believe I've done it!", I enjoyed eating, drinking and sitting without having to first of all make sure anyone else is looked after, I loved getting on and off the tube without counting people, I went to a museum! A real museum, with art! Not "the science museum" or "the transport museum" or "the children museum". I went to the Tate Modern to see the Lichtenstein exhibition. It's been years since I've seen the inside of a real museum (only problem was we had to walk over the Millennium Bridge to get to the museum. I love museums. Walking on bridges over rivers not so much...),

Crossing the bridge

no-one said "I'm bored" or "I'm cold" or "Can I have your phone to play" or my favourite "Are we done yet??????", we saw "Viva Forever" which is a total full-of-fun chick-musical based on the Spice Girls songs (I was very much surprised to see how many of them I still remember). In short - I had fun.

Waiting for the show

On the other hand I did have some kids-related errands to run so we stopped at Boots and my shopping was mostly related to Easter-eggs, I even took my friend to her first Marble-Arch Primark experience to buy some socks and underpants for... You guessed it - the kids. Also, I had to walk over a bridge (twice), my phone died because I'm not used to being out so long and didn't think to bring a charger with me, I haven't spoken to Hidai and my kids for a whole day (unprecedented), I finished the day talking to the 7 years old girl and her 20 something sister who sat next to me at the theatre and gazing at the redhead girl infront of me (she had hair the exact color as Ron, gorgeous red hair), I missed them all like crazy, and mainly I think, for me London is "our" city, mine and Hidai's. It's always been like that - our honeymoon, every romantic vacation we ever took, our dream destination. It was weird "being in London" without Hidai.
I think sometimes we don't realize we are enslaved. Sometimes we have life choices we made some time ago and we fail to change them, or even to examine and validate them, or to be happy or sad about them. Sometimes choices become facts of lives. Just-the-way-it-is-and-it-can't-be-changed kind of thing. This Passover thanks to my friend I had a chance to examine one of mine, a very fundamental one, I had a chance to feel how it is to not be here for my Hidai and my kids. I had a chance to look into the "what if" mirror. And I took it. I took my chance, I had so much fun, I had an adventure :) and in the end of the day, all of it made me realise I made the right choice for me.
(That is not to say I did not close myself in the bedroom to write all this and left Hidai with the kids and the WII).