Dear Friends,
This message was sent to Marina by a dear
friend and colleague in Salta, Ms Inés Amaduro.
Inés was our classmate at
Profesorado in Buenos Aires and is now a lecturer in Phonetics at the prestigious Instituto del Profesorado en Lenguas Vivas
of the province of Salta.
Today, we love her even more for sending
us this poem. Inés writes she´s sending
it "In honor of women's history month and
in memory of Erma Bombeck who lost her fight with cancer
".
It is intended to be sent to women
but more than a man will surely appreciate it.
We also believe it is a nice PEP UP message because it makes you think hard
about life.
We definitely wanted to share it with you
all.
IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE
OVER
by Erma
Bombeck
I would have talked less and listened
more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even
if
the carpet was stained and the
sofa
faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the "GOOD"
living
room and worried much less
about
the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in
the
fireplace.
I would have taken the time to listen to
my
grandfather ramble about his
youth.
I would never have insisted the car windows
be
rolled up on a summer day because my
hair
had just been teased and
sprayed.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like
a
rose before it melted in
storage.
I would have sat on the lawn with my children
and
not worried about grass
stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while
watching
television and more while
watching
life.
I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead
of
pretending the earth would go into
a
holding pattern if I weren't there for the
day.
I would never have bought anything just because
it
was practical, wouldn't show soil
or
was guaranteed to last a
lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of
pregnancy,
I'd have cherished every
moment
realizing that the wonderment growing inside me
was
the only chance in life to
assist
God in a
miracle.
When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would
never
have said, "Later. Now go get
washed
up for
dinner."
There would have been more "I love yous" more
"I'm
sorrys" but mostly, given
another
shot at life, I would seize every minute, look at
it
and really see it, live it
and
never give it
back.
TIP
:
We can use this poem obviously to
practise hypothetical sentences with :
I would have
...
I would never
have...
I would not
have...
Depending on our
audience (either adults or teenagers, since we do not believe you can do this
poem with children ), we can ask them to try their hand at
rewriting the poem with their own
feelings and expeeiences . Suggested titles ?
"If I had my childhood to live over
"
"If I had my adolescence to live over"
In a a lighter vein we could suggest " If
I had my primary school to live over"
"If I had my secondary school to live
over" " If I had my days when I was
single and without a mother -in-law- to
live over "
We know you will like the poem. We hope
you can put it to good use in the
classroom but mainly IN
LIFE.
All best wishes
Omar Villarreal and Marina Kirac