In just over a month I will fly to Rome and stay in Italy for almost three weeks. It has been five years since the last time I traveled to my favorite destination. That last trip was the occasion for starting this blog, so it holds special meaning for me.
A lot has changed in five years. I got tenure, earned a second masters degree, fell in love, and developed a chronic illness.
Hopefully my Italian skills are still pretty strong. I expect that I will struggle the first few days, but with any luck the language will come back to me quickly once I am immersed in it.
I haven’t been worried about remembering the Italian I haven’t used much the last few years. It’s the rest of the language, the words I never needed until now, that I realized recently that I should be familiar with.
I must learn to say ‘Crohn’s disease’ in Italian. I have to learn how to politely refuse food if I don’t think it will agree with me, how to say “yogurt” and how to talk about my guts. God willing, my health will be fine when I am over there, but if I need this new language of sickness I hope I’ll be able to have it at my disposal.
It is interesting in life how we all go through times we are learning a new language; we did when we had kids, when they played sports; when college started, during new work assignments; during the time our son was in the ARMY. All new and at times overwhelming. I am sure you will do well. I hope your trip goes great.
I think one of the things we can do for those we love is to learn the language of the things they love to do. If your loved one loves books then even if you don’t you should learn about them and love them through being able to share in their world.