Sweet Sophie is using Babbel to learn Polish. Babcia is over the moon. Sophie began using the language app recently in order to learn Babcia’s native tongue and seems to be learning conversational Polish fairly quickly. Of course she’s lucky in that she has a personal tutor available at all times. Sophie uses the app, and then she and Babcia have additional lessons to help her to understand and use the language properly. Being so young, she soaks it up like an eager sponge so it’s the perfect time to teach her. Anyone who knows anything about the Polish language knows it’s not always easy to pick up, but Sophie has youth and a growing intellect on her side.

When the Polish prince and I were youngsters ourselves, Babcia would try to sit us down at the table and teach us some basic Polish. Unfortunately, we always thought we had better things to do (Barbies, Tonka trucks, running around outside, etc). We didn’t pay attention as well as we should have and so it kind of fell by the wayside. What do I remember from those lessons? I can count to two in Polish. I’m embarrassed to say that I remember more from my two years of high school Spanish than I do of my mother’s Polish lessons. If only I could turn back time. I’ve managed to learn some more Polish later in life by listening to Babcia more intently, listening to conversations she has with her relatives, and using the Duolingo app myself. I still wouldn’t call my level of knowledge conversational, but I can manage a few words here and there. As a child I didn’t realize the importance of learning my mother’s language; now I yearn to be able to speak with her in Polish. I wish for that connection betweeen us, and to be able to help her jog her memory and use her language skills. I consider it a testament to her determination that she has mastered two languages in her lifetime; not everyone can say that.

When my daughter was little she too had Polish lessons with Babcia. Of course this was before the apps that are readily available these days. They would sit at the dining room table and write words as they spoke them. My daughter, like me, never became fluent but like me she knows some words and how to use them.

All this really makes me realize the vast knowledge that Babcia has, that is yet untapped by her children and family. So many times I think of questions I’d like to ask her about her life, and I’m trying to do more of that of late. I want her story to live on through us. I want to share my pride in my mother through her own stories. From growing up in Poland, to being separated from her family during the war, to traveling overseas to a foreign land and starting over… she has so much to share with us. Why don’t we appreciate these things until we’re older and time is shorter? And yet the majority of us do just that.

Little does Sophie know that these words that’s she’s learning every day will link her to a rich history and to her very beginnings. I hope that she continues to learn Polish and to listen to Babcia’s language and to her stories as she grows. I know that most likely she won’t appreciate it in the moment either, being a young child. But maybe some day she will look back and have beautiful memories of sharing something so personal with her Babcia and she will feel love, pride, and warmth upon feeling those memories. I know I do.