No Complaints

Yes, Pesach is a hard yom tov to prepare for.  I don't care how little or how much you do by way of cleaning, but this is a yom tov that tends to bring company with it, and company means cooking, and cooking means shopping and preparing and cleaning up.  For most people their kitchens are not as convenient to work in as those kitchens are the rest of the year, with items being stored wherever a place can be found, and that's not always in the kitchen itself.  And then, as was the case this year, when yom tov and Shabbos are interwoven, there isn't the "leisure" to cook on yom tov itself--everything needs to be completely prepared before yom tov starts.

However.......
I miss Pesach.  I'm sitting at my desk with plenty of cook aheads in the fridge so there's no preparing a meal for tonight.  And it is quiet in the house...a bit too quiet.  There are going to be no leisurely communal meals and sitting at the table to catch up on what has been going on in everyone's lives. There are going to be no helping hands running up and down the stairs so I don't have to.  There are going to be no gabfests while lounging around on the couch.  There won't be the multiple voices in the chorus of "gutten yom tov's" that accompany the comings and goings to shul.  The dining room table looks strangely bare, decked only in a tablecloth without dishes set for a meal.  Where books should be stacked on the coffee table there is only plain wood. 

Yes, I worked hard and long to bring in Pesach, but I have no complaints. The yom tov was truly joyously celebrated, and memories were added that will last a lifetime.  And yes, being gathered together and being able to talk to each other face to face was worth all the effort.  I heard someone say today "Thank God that Pesach is finally over."  I'm going to amend that statement to one that pleases me more--"Thank God for Pesach."