Go Mum!

   As it is Mothering Sunday here in Britain, I thought a small tribute was in order. You may remember this post on learning later in life; what I didn't know when I wrote it was that my mother - a lady of mature years - had started learning French. Not having been taught the language at school, she has had a lifelong yen to acquire a basic fluency, and last Autumn she finally took the plunge and enrolled in a year's course in French conversation at her local college. Despite having talents in many and disparate fields, Mum had no confidence in her ability in this area, so it took a lot for her to have a go, especially as all the other members of her class are much younger than she is. Now some way into her second term she's doing very well, by the sound of it, and we are all proud of her for taking this step.

    I hope that little story is encouraging to anyone contemplating doing something similar.

    Vas-y Maman!

Comments

[Mary]

What a great thing to do. As I approach retirement, I am keeping an eye on the "next step" and carefully thinking about what I will do with my time. Your mother is to be commended for taking on the challenge of a new language.

[Cornflower]

She is indeed, Mary.

[Darlene]

How inspiring! There is a university in the next city with a class on twentieth century British authors. I dream about being in that class one day and asking all sorts of questions.

[Barbara]

That's inspiring; good for her!

One of my uncles regretted having left school early, took English GCSE when he was about seventy and got a grade A. You're never too old!

[Cornflower]

That sounds great! You should do it, Darlene.

[Cornflower]

Well done to your uncle! I agree, you're never too old to learn.

[Your Mother]

My goodness! what can I say to that? well, I suppose I must go back to my "roots" so to speak, as I firmly believe that whatever aspirations one has and whether we accept or ignore challenges, the answers lie within our genes. My father died when I was only six years old and the second oldest in a family of five children, but - and it was a big "but" we were fortunate in having the most wonderful, loving, caring and enterprising mother one could wish for. The evidence was there right from my earliest memories and I can only hope that my strong determination to be as capable as she, has, at least to some extent, been realised. I missed out on learning a foreign language
at school because my Headmaster recommended me as a suitable candidate to join the staff of a local bank whose regular staff were departing to join the armed forces - the country was at war. It was thought to be an opportunity not to be ignored.
The language thing was always something at the back of my mind, but as time went on,I
stopped thinking about it.
A few years ago, the class of my youngest granddaughter, Harriet, -who is now 17, were
asked to write a poem about a person who inspired them.
She chose to write about her Granny ! It was the nicest compliment I have ever received. Here is the last line of her poem "I think she will live to be one
hundred, just to prove that she can "
When the idea to take up the french
language came once again into my head, I thought of
Harriet and wondered what her reaction would be. I
enrolled for the class, completed the first term, and only then let the family into "my secret". The expressions on the faces of all these clever, talented,
and bilingual people, was a joy to watch.
I'm continuing with the course - in
Harriet's words "just to prove that I can"!.
I celebrated my 86th. birthday earlier this month and have a bit to go Harriet, but I'm hopeful of reaching your challenged goal.
Thankyou for your comments to Cornflower - with a daughter like her I simply could not - NOT reply.

[Miriana]

Congratulations to Cornflower's Mother, what a beautiful story you shared with us!

Me too, I'm very proud of my mom who enrolled in an English class (back in Italy) a couple of years ago. Now my little niece (who's 6) has also started to learn English and my mom sometimes tells me about little "conversations" they have, and asks me for some advice with the homework. I'm so glad she started to learn English, something she'd wanted to do for a while and found the courage to start.

[Cornflower]

That's lovely, Miriana - here's to your Mum!