STITCH LINES...... Ramblings on life as a quilter, stitcher, traveler, photographer, gardener and lover of books, cats and fine chocolate....

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Spring Break week...never dull...

It's Spring Break week here at the casa... and life is never dull when the kiddos are home. Ollie loves all the extra attention he gets... lol As usual, there's lots going on... appointments, visiting with friends, etc. I've been busy trying to get some goodies done up to send back with them for their freezers- easy meals they can pull out after a busy day of classes. Because they both have birthdays shortly after returning to school, we did "birthday supper" tonight, with a yummy chocolate b-day cake (is there ANY other kind?)
Laura just got the news she has been anxiously awaiting : she has been accepted to do an overseas trip in May, through the Canadian Centre for Diversity. It is called the March of Remembrance and Hope, and is a nine day indepth study of the Holocaust, focusing on the overall themes of hatred and genocide. They (a group of sixty University students from across Canada) will tour concentration and death camps in Germany and Poland, accompanied by several Holocaust survivors and guides. It is bound to be an emotional adventure which will be life-changing. She will have a great deal of preparation to do - assigned readings, webinars, etc. plus they travel to Toronto for an orientation day before the flight to Berlin. I have mixed feelings about this whole thing- I am very proud of her for her interest in history and wanting to do her bit to make the world a better place (each participant must agree to devote themselves to future activities for raising awareness of the Holocaust, discrimination and hatred). However, as a Mother, I will worry about her from the moment I leave her at the departure gate at the airport till I see her face again nine days later. I know this will change her life - hopefully for the better, but I'm sure many of the stories she hears will be horrific, as she learns of the atrocities of war and the camps. She is a very mature and capable young lady; I just hope she is strong enough to deal with this whole experience... my baby is growing up... :( She has already set up a new Blog so that she can (hopefully) keep us updated daily while she is away. I will add the link later when it is closer to her departure date, in case you are interested in following her progress.

Peace
Linda

My Daughter...
All the dreams I prayed you'd be
are all the things you are.
You were once my little girl
and now my shining star.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shining star is right!. Congrats Laura. Good luck!! I'll be anxious to watch your new blog. Gail M.

Marie Alton said...

Hi Linda ... Whoa ... that is so awesome for Laura to be able to do such a trip. I'm sure as you say that it will be a life-altering adventure ... but I have every confidence that she will find it incredible and share that through her blog of it ... I'm looking forward to checking that out.

I especially love your finishing comment ...
My Daughter ... I so feel the same about my own sweet DD ... who incidentally ... just landed a new job today! My little shining star!

Hugs ... Marie

Susan Elliott said...

I visited Auschwitz when I was 22 and I was physically grieving for about a week because my body absorbed all of the energy of the place. There is a beautiful embroidered documentary by Esther Krinitz called Fabric of Survival...
Here's a website that discusses it

http://www.artandremembrance.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.showHome

And a video to preview

http://www.artandremembrance.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.showPost&contentID=87

I was fortunate to view this amazing exhibit three years ago. There's also a book available called Memories of Survival.

I hope she finds beauty and joy within the gruesome story. My favorite movie of ALL time is

Life is Beautiful

xo Susan

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