One of the things I was determined to do when I retired was to perfect my French. My husband’s parents were multi-lingual, he heard French spoken at home, and he speaks it fluently. But although I studied French in both high school and college, my mastery of that beautiful tongue was poor, and my husband hadn’t the patience to help. (See Parlez-vous Francais?)
So I enrolled at New York’s Alliance Francaise and took classes there for an academic year. Then as summer approached my teacher Marie-France invited interested students to join her for a two week language immersion trip to France. I signed up tout de suite, three of my classmates did as well, and we soon began our French sojourn.
Marie-France drove us in her small van around the southern coastal region of Languedoc-Roussillon, which happily for us produces more organic wine than anywhere else in France. And as we explored the countryside with our teacher, she continued drilling us in the language.
One very hot day we happened to pass a lovely lake where dozens of families were swimming. Marie-France stopped the van and we could see some of the women in the skimpiest of bikinis. But we couldn’t help noticing that mostvof the other women, men and children were swimming in the nude.
Marie-France said she had towels in the van and suggested we take a dip in the lake to cool off. We told her the water looked very inviting, but we had no swim suits.
”Ici la France!”, said our teacher. And so feeling very French, we took off our clothes and went in!
He must have noticed that the word “kidnapping” shocked us. He took the time to give us the word-for-word definition from the California Criminal Code: “Moving another person a substantial distance, without the person's consent, by means of force or fear.” Read More
A working woman who’s also a wife and mother can often feel like a juggler in a three-ring circus.
I was working at a job I loved when I discovered I was pregnant, and I happily applied for a maternity leave to start two weeks before the baby was due. (See My Brown-Eyed Girl)
My years on leave with my child were precious, but all too soon it seemed he started nursery school and happily, although with some trepidation about leaving him, I went back to work. (See Stay-at-Home Mom and Going Back to Work)
And then the juggling act would begin!
I’d come home from work and roll up my sleeves to more work – caring for a toddler, a household, and a husband. To be fair my husband was willing to help, but his work schedule brought him home too late to do much, so I was chief cook and bottle washer, child bather, and dinner maker.
And thinking back to those years I remember feeling so stressed and so exhausted that at times I seemed to be running on empty both at work and at home. And I remember there were many tears, and idle threats, and much slamming of doors.
But in the grand scheme of things I realize my stressors were garden variety and manageable. And in equal measure I remember a sense of pride and accomplishment in all I was doing.
And one lesson I’ve learned – a juggler in a three- ring circus may have a lion’s share of stress, but she’ll never have a dull moment!
