New Free Design - My Family Series

Before I get on with the next installment of the My Family series, I wanted to let you know that I am putting this chapter on my blog with a bit of trepidation.  It might not seem possible, being that I have a blog and that I've been writing about my life, but you must believe me when I tell you that I am a very private person.  This blog has been and still is an exercise for me in opening up, not being afraid to share.  This installment, more than others, is very personal but I feel you can't know anything about my life without knowing about Shiri.  This was originally written 11 years ago, (before Nina came into our lives).  Shiri was a college student then. Now she is a mother, a wife, a lawyer, a beautiful human being and a loving, caring, delightful daughter.  I am leaving this installment exactly as it was in the magazine 11 years ago...

Shiri, Orin and Nomi

My Daughter Shiri

By the time this issue comes to your homes it will be March.  Twenty-one years ago, on the 25th of March, my daughter Shiri was born.  She is my only child.  When Shiri was a few months old, her father and I separated.  I raised her on my own for the next twelve years. 

I came into parenting at the age of 23.  I remember well looking down into my baby’s eyes as she was put on my stomach for the first time.  Her blue round eyes were huge and they gazed up at me with intensity.

Shiri and I spent the next twelve years as a solid unit, she and I facing the world together.  In the first year of her life I was facing a divorce which rocked my world and terrified me.  I had to make immediate changes in my career, becoming the sole provider for our family unit.  I was faced with financial devastation and began a struggle that would last for years.  Planning for my future was a luxury I did not allow myself.   It was Shiri’s future that I would think about at night.  How would I make it all possible for her?

She was an easy baby, very inquisitive, happy and funny.  We spent many hours together, the two of us, and I remember talking to her constantly. From early on Shiri invited me to be a part of her inner most emotional life and she made her way into mine.  Our bond has always been like a metal chain linking the two of us from within.

When she was twelve years old I met Reid and we were married a year later.  Our family unit expanded and Shiri had to make way for a new member.  Just as she did not have any say in her being raised by a single mother, she was now faced with such a big change and she must have been terrified.  The first year of our new life was rocky, but soon Shiri and Reid began establishing a wonderful relationship that has grown into a beautiful combination of love and respect.

I could go on and on about my Shiri.  She is the pride of my life. . . *

*  As I mentioned, this installment came before Nina