I wished the plans to have everybody together could have excluded Avi and Dina. Whenever Dina was around she somehow managed to take all the fizzle out of the fun

“Yay! They’re here,” Benny announced from his vantage point on the windowsill where he’d been perched for the last few hours, ever since my parents left for the airport (each in a separate car) to pick up my two siblings and their families, both arriving from Israel on the same flight.

“Who’s first?” I asked.

“Yehuda and his family.” Good thing he didn’t say Avi (my other brother) or I would have stayed sitting. Instead, I ran excitedly to the door to welcome my brother, favorite sister-in-law, and their two girls. When I’d finished giving my two delightful nieces enough kisses and hugs to do justice to the amount of time I hadn’t seen them for, I turned to welcome my sister-in law. “I’m so excited you’re finally here,” I said, giving her a light hug. “I’ve been waiting for you to visit since you left after Succos!”

“We’re excited to be here, too,” Chaya enthused in response to my excited welcome.

“And so are we,” a voice said from behind.

I whirled around to greet my other brother, Avi, who had arrived in the interim. I didn’t think the “we” included his sullen wife, standing next to him. I wondered if she always looked like that, or only when she visited us. From her facial expression, you would think she’d just been condemned to a lifetime in prison as opposed to a two-week stay in our house.

Last year nobody came home for Pesach. This year, as a present to my mother who was turning 50 on Chol Hamoed, my father had decided to bring everyone home. My two brothers in yeshivah were only coming the next week but we would all be together for Yom Tov. We were planning a big bash on the actual birthday — a surprise of course.

I wished the plans to have everybody together could have excluded Avi and Dina. Whenever Dina was around she somehow managed to take all the fizzle out of the fun. I had actually made the suggestion to my father to leave them out of the party and he was horrified. “They’re part of the family.” Even when I recounted all my grievances from the last time they’d been here, he hadn’t been swayed. “Give it another try,” he said. “It’s been half a year since then. Try to have a positive attitude toward them, Dina in particular, and hopefully she’ll reflect that back to you.” And then he pulled out his trump card. “Do it for Ma. A birthday present for her.” There was nothing my mother liked more than when we all got along.

So I was going to give it another try. Spring had just begun, the weather was stunning, and I felt a sense of renewal. I was inspired to make a change. To try to better our relationship.

“Hi, Dina,” I said with the biggest smile I could muster. A hug would have been too much. “It’s so nice to see you.”

“Same here,” she said, her tone implying the opposite. Oh, well. I tried.