On Purim, we went from mourning to merriment

L

ast Purim, we tumbled into our apartment after a rambunctious Purim seudah at friends, to begin our next, much quieter seudah with my in-laws, who had both just gotten up from shivah. They were sitting on comfortable chairs waiting for us, faces smiling, eyes deeply tired.

My father-in-law had lost his dear brother, and my mother-in-law her beloved sister.

Now we joke that my in-laws, by definition one team, even underwent this dark period together: different shivah homes, same covered mirrors.