Second Free Design and Giveaway!
>> June 5, 2011 –
blog giveaway,
needlepoint,
new designs
It's time for our second installment of "My Family".
From the series I wrote for Needlepoint Now ten years ago, this time it's about my parents.
The free design is available for download on the right sidebar under: My Family - Download the Series of free designs.
Now, for the GIVEAWAY... if you are a follower of my blog, you are automatically entered in the drawing for free fibers for this design. If not, sign up to follow my blog and you will be entered as well, for this design and any future ones! Look for the Follow button on the right sidebar and put yourself on the list. This way you will also find out about all that's new around here.
I was the first born to my parents. I have often wondered about the effect of the sequence of birth on the child/parent relationship. Being the first born, I had the youngest parents compared to my siblings. Everything they did with me was a first: the excitement of bringing home a newborn, the worry over the first night of crying, the marvel at the first smile. Later on the not so exciting events: first time disciplining, the first time a fever crept through a small body, the first time the young parents heard a defiant “NO!” from this young “angel”.
Perhaps the most marvelous of events brought on by a first child is the creation of a new family. When I was born my parents became a family unit onto themselves and that is when the plans for the future began.
But let’s go back a bit further. My parents met at their workplace. My mother petite and vivacious, my father tall and distinguished. The romance sparked and they became a couple. Like every child, I loved to hear the story of how my mother first spotted my father, the tall, handsome European and how shortly after they met, my father was enthralled by my mother’s zest for life. They courted, fell in love and married. I was born a year later and with that they had begun their own family. When I was three years old we left Israel and set off for the United States. Over the years my parents would make moves all over the world with us, leaving things behind, starting all over in new environments. The moves were made to improve our lives, to move ahead, or to come back to roots. Some moves were easier than others, some better than others.
I look back now and try to find the thread that stayed constant throughout my parent’s marriage, and throughout my family’s year together, through thick and thin. It is humor. There is nothing my parents like more than to look back at times and situations and see the humor in them.
When we were little there was no better compliment than my parents saying that my sisters and I had a sense of humor. Even moments of anger and disappointment could be recalled with laughter.
Till this day my parents love to tell the story of my near brush with school expulsion. We had returned home to Israel after a summer trip to United States and found a letter addressed to them from my school principal. The letter told them of the damage I had caused to school property. They were asked to show up at the principal’s office and sign a letter explaining the conditions of my being accepted into class for “one last chance”. I promise you there was nothing funny about the situation at the moment! I was reprimanded and punished, and I made sure to change my ways. But not long afterwards, the story of our arrival home from the airport to find the letter would become one of the funny tales we tell about our family. It was not that the situation was taken lightly, but rather that the range of emotions, the description of their faces, or their initial thought that the letter perhaps announced my receiving a school award of some sort, all these are retold with much humor. To this day my parents lovingly poke fun at each other, tell us of other funny moments and just love to laugh. It is a gift I have taken with me into my own family unit. It is what made me fall in love with Reid. He can still make me laugh hysterically. Shiri is funny and can easily laugh at herself. If a funny situation occurs in my life, it is my parents that I call to relay the story.
My Parents: Reuben and Slava Borenstein
I was the first born to my parents. I have often wondered about the effect of the sequence of birth on the child/parent relationship. Being the first born, I had the youngest parents compared to my siblings. Everything they did with me was a first: the excitement of bringing home a newborn, the worry over the first night of crying, the marvel at the first smile. Later on the not so exciting events: first time disciplining, the first time a fever crept through a small body, the first time the young parents heard a defiant “NO!” from this young “angel”. Perhaps the most marvelous of events brought on by a first child is the creation of a new family. When I was born my parents became a family unit onto themselves and that is when the plans for the future began.
But let’s go back a bit further. My parents met at their workplace. My mother petite and vivacious, my father tall and distinguished. The romance sparked and they became a couple. Like every child, I loved to hear the story of how my mother first spotted my father, the tall, handsome European and how shortly after they met, my father was enthralled by my mother’s zest for life. They courted, fell in love and married. I was born a year later and with that they had begun their own family. When I was three years old we left Israel and set off for the United States. Over the years my parents would make moves all over the world with us, leaving things behind, starting all over in new environments. The moves were made to improve our lives, to move ahead, or to come back to roots. Some moves were easier than others, some better than others.
I look back now and try to find the thread that stayed constant throughout my parent’s marriage, and throughout my family’s year together, through thick and thin. It is humor. There is nothing my parents like more than to look back at times and situations and see the humor in them.
When we were little there was no better compliment than my parents saying that my sisters and I had a sense of humor. Even moments of anger and disappointment could be recalled with laughter.
Till this day my parents love to tell the story of my near brush with school expulsion. We had returned home to Israel after a summer trip to United States and found a letter addressed to them from my school principal. The letter told them of the damage I had caused to school property. They were asked to show up at the principal’s office and sign a letter explaining the conditions of my being accepted into class for “one last chance”. I promise you there was nothing funny about the situation at the moment! I was reprimanded and punished, and I made sure to change my ways. But not long afterwards, the story of our arrival home from the airport to find the letter would become one of the funny tales we tell about our family. It was not that the situation was taken lightly, but rather that the range of emotions, the description of their faces, or their initial thought that the letter perhaps announced my receiving a school award of some sort, all these are retold with much humor. To this day my parents lovingly poke fun at each other, tell us of other funny moments and just love to laugh. It is a gift I have taken with me into my own family unit. It is what made me fall in love with Reid. He can still make me laugh hysterically. Shiri is funny and can easily laugh at herself. If a funny situation occurs in my life, it is my parents that I call to relay the story.
** My father passed away in 2007. I miss him so very much. I designed GIBOR in his honor and as a part of a Cure for Cancer event.
*** I have put the down-loadable pdf file on Google docs. This should be very easy to access. I am not able to individually send the file to you. Thanks.
Thank you for the freebies!! I love your work and was lucky enough to win one of your giveaways. Thank you again.
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful design!
Thank you for the beautiful chart. I really enjoyed reading the story about your parents.
Hi Ellen,
Thankyou for the comment on my free pattern, unfortunately I do not know why the picture will not click into a bigger one, I am currently trying to work it out. Previously it has worked no problem?
Happy stitching!