Some early stories about Holly Gary, the toddler, focused on her obsession with flags and her love of national anthems. We think these two interests grew out watching the the 1994 Winter Olympic Games.
You see, the impressionable tot noticed people sang songs while other people raised flags. In fact, she was so taken by this, that we bought her a number of tiny flags for her second birthday which she celebrated a few weeks after the closing ceremonies of those olympics.
She gave everyone a brief rundown of all the names of the flags - ‘merca, Canda and Fwance. In fact, you can see the famous French Tri-Color below.
The ladies at her daycare were fascinated when they heard this gifted toddler singing herself to sleep at naptime to the strains of the “Star Spangled Banner.”
At home, when we sang the anthem, we often had to stand at attention and Holly wound tell us all: “Hold Your Heart!”
Not long after the flag and anthem phase, she received a children’s book in French (Ou est Spot? or…“Where is Spot?”). As she heard me read the book to her en Français, she became fascinated with the notion that there were other types of words spoken around the world other than the ones we speak.
As has always been the case with our inquisitive daughter, she wanted to learn more. It’s a hard concept to teach to someone so small but she seemed the grasp the basic notion of nations and languages.
So…we scouted around and found the French version of Richard Scarry’s “Big Book of Words.” En Français, it is called <<Le Livre des Mots.>> Throughout her childhood, it became her favorite book and we would go through page after page of it and the young sponge soaked up word after word of French vocab.
The loved the page with a Halloween theme where she learned a ghost was called a fantome, a pumpkin is a potiron and a mask is translated as masque. She’d giggle as we’d read each word over and over time after time. She loved the idea that a Halloween costume - a disguise - was labelled a deguisement!
It’s one of her favorite childhood memories and one of my favorite dad memories, too.
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Fast forward to the Summer of 2012. For weeks, our family has had this weekend circled on the calendar. Yesterday, Holly flew to France to begin a Study Abroad program. A French minor in college, she will earn six hours of credit toward her degree through this summer program.
Lisa and I drove her to Atlanta. She flew overnight from Hartsfield-Jackson and landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Through the magic of modern technology, we tracked her flight as it hugged the North American coastline and then sped across the Atlantic Ocean overnight.
She landed in Paris around 8 a.m. local time Sunday. She texted us to let us know she was safe and secure. Then, one by one, the other students - who are also travelling to Europe from destinations across the U.S. - began to arrive. They all got together and began sightseeing
She wrote us an email at the end of Day One to summarize all the things she had been doing. It sounds like the first day went very well and that the group has already begun to bond.
We were very happy to hear all of this news. I’m sure she’s going to have an amazing experience this summer.
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When I went to Farragut High School, I decided to study French for two very easy and distinct reasons. First, I needed a foreign language credit. Second, my two closest friends were taking Latin and Spanish and I wanted to be different.
I had four years of French in high school and another year and a half of it in college. I was in pretty good shape to teach her some basic French language 18 years ago.
I wonder if Holly’s summer program this year might have been different though if, I had followed one of my buddies into Spanish class and if, as a child, she had read “El mejor libro de palabras” instead?
In any case, it has been obvious to her mother and I for quite some time that Holly is going to do some amazing things in her life. And, as a connoisseur of words, it is clear that language would play a major part. The fact that she is a journalism major (with a French minor) is not surprising. Where she goes and how she’ll put it all together will be fascinating for us to watch as proud parents.
But for now, where she goes is France. For the month of July, she will see amazing sights and learn fascinating facts. And when she comes home, she’ll have a million stories to tell.
And maybe she’ll have some songs to sing. And some flags to wave.
And we’ll be sure to 'hold our hearts.’
JG
Originally posted 6/24/2012
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