Cherne life skills

I was watching Project Runway the other day, and the one of the final three designers, Carol Hannah, was talking about where she learned to sew. Her grandma was a seamstress, and while she worked, Carol would make little clothes for her dolls.

It was a cute story, especially because a lot of her work has a whimsical look that could hail back to her doll dressing days. It also made me think about what life skills that I took away from my childhood.

Everyone has them…an unique set of skills that you learned as a result of being part of your family. For example, one of Ben’s skills is being able to package items to withstand a trip through a hurricane. The guy is a whiz with packing peanuts and strapping tape, and he owes it to his Dad’s tutelage on packaging.

My Cherne life skills? They include being able to make a mean pan of lasagna, concocting the best punch ever, and assorted crafty skills. In a pinch, I could make you a fabric covered photo album, complete with lace trim, a puffy paint shirt, or even a clear hair bow filled with sequins and glitter. (Can you tell that all these projects were from around 1990?)

Another life skill that has come in handy recently is composing gift baskets. Christmas time in the Cherne household always included a monumental process of taking bags of holiday napkins, CDs, gourmet treats, cookie mixes, and other trinkets…and sorting, arranging, and wrapping them into baskets. The amount of paper scrunch, cellophane, and wired ribbon that went into the fleet of baskets that ended up on the dining room floor to be passed out to my Dad’s coworkers or to the pastoral staff at our church…pretty amazing.

At first, my only contribution was testing out the candy and cleaning up the debris afterwards, but as I got older, I learned the tricks of the trade. Little did I know that I would put them into action years later for Ben’s firm client gifts. I had to get a lot of telephone counseling along the way from my Mom, the basket master, but they turned out pretty decent. (I told my Mom that I gave myself a B+)

Here are a few pictures;

Thanks Mom! I couldn’t have done it without you, and I’m sure that this life skill will be passed down again. The kids already have the candy tasting down pat…

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