Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Short Ends



It's Wednesday. And a gorgeous Wednesday at that. Another afternoon spent with our dear friend, Mrs. Nagy. Now I want you to know that I managed to cross stitch today without any major problems. That's a huge accomplishment for me. All the little blue x's are now complete so, I was ready to move to the purple x's. I think I counted and recounted 8 or 9 times to make sure I was starting in the right place. I wasn't about to make that awful mistake again.

Rachel continues to make Mrs. Nagy so proud of her ability to follow directions and pay attention to the smallest of details. Her pillowcase is just beautiful. It won't be long and she'll have it completed and ready to start the second one. Mrs. Nagy is already talking about going on a little shopping trip to find the next embroidery project. She's certain Rachel is ready for the next level! Did you notice there's no mention of me being ready to move on?

One of the great things I've come to love about us stitching and embroidering and sewing together is that we can talk and work at the same time. And Mrs. Nagy always has a little something for us to enjoy. She's such a gracious hostess. Today we tried a sampling from a little tray filled with dates, apricots, walnuts, almonds, and chocolates. As far as I know, this was the first time I've ever tasted a date. I really enjoyed it! Rachel, not so much. Not surprising though. Speaking of dates, Mrs. Nagy told us she's never been on a date. She had an arranged marriage. But that's another story for another time.

As always, a wonderful nugget of wisdom was dispensed during all the stitches we made. She told us a story of when she was a little girl living in Austria. They had been through of a number of refugee camps by this time. She found herself in school as a foreigner. Foreigners were looked down on. She only spoke German and the other children would make fun of her. She said she would come home in tears not knowing what to do. Her mother, Julianna, told her these words:

"Take the short end and God
will reward you in the long run."

Mrs. Nagy spoke this little saying to us in German and it actually rhymes, making it easy to remember. I guess I immediately likened it to hearing, "Looks like you got the short end of the stick!" When someone gives you the short end of the stick, so to speak, respond with love and kindness. Mrs. Nagy said she never really understood what this meant until she was much older and had experienced many occasions where she took the short end. She said she has always found this to be true...that God rewards his children in the long run.

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