The Holiday Dunk Incident

When a person inspects their childhood, they often recall chores and responsibilities. Said obligations may be rotated among family members such as who does the dishes each night. Or tasks may simply fall upon the oldest child living at home, like loading the trash bags into a rickety old cart and wheeling it down the hill to be picked up by the garbage men the following morning. In many families there is an annual ritual know as "Spring Cleaning" which can be traced to the ancient Jewish practice of thoroughly cleansing the home in anticipation of the spring-time holiday of Passover (Hebrew: פסח pesach‎). During the eight-day holiday there is a strict prohibition against eating anything which may have been leavened. Jews are not only supposed to refrain from leavened foodstuffs (known in Hebrew as חמץ chametz), they are expressly commanded to rid their homes of even small remnants of chametz for the length of the holiday (Exodus 12:15). Therefore, for the past 3,500 years, observant Jews have conducted a thorough "spring cleaning" of the house ridding the premises of all types of leavening before the Passover begins.

While growing up, members of my family participated in what I like to call the "Semi-Annual Cousin" to spring cleaning. Not really having a proper name for it, I have recently dubbed it the "Holiday Dunk." It generally falls between Thanksgiving and Christmas so it seemed appropriate. Preparing all the bedrooms for guests. Vacuuming, dusting, cleaning out the garage, thawing the freezers, bringing in the long and ridiculously heavy table, the Christmas decor and so forth. After installing the new sink down stairs, mom was installing glass shelves in the vanity. As I began to help her, one of the shelves slipped and greeted my finger most sharply. The inflicted wound immediately started to gush. And thus ended the Holiday Dunk.

The Initial Gush

Upon Further Inspection

The Magic of Indian Paint (Iodine) Applied

Collodion Discovered and Glued