Communism and fetishes...

Yesterday, I drove my 19 year old daughter back to university in Lancaster, quite a long way from our home. Leaving her there was incredibly difficult - she misses home and her boyfriend, Shannon, so much, and her tears started flowing as soon as we started to unload the car. I knew she'd be ok once I'd left, just as I knew that being home for a month, being with Shannon 24/7 for almost the whole time and then having to go back would be so difficult for her. When I left to start the snowy drive home she was once again in tears but trying so hard to be positive, which fair broke my heart. She does love college, she has wonderful friends and a very nice flat to live in so I knew she would be ok...but I still worried.

Then this lunchtime I saw two missed calls from her and it was with a real sense of dread that I returned her calls..i was so hoping that she would not be in tears and telling me she was unhappy. The first thing I 'heard' down the phone was a sense of 'excitement' when she said 'MUM..guess what!!!' and I fair let out an audible gasp of relief. She then went on to tell me that she had got 64% for the first paper that she had to turn in last term..one that she was so scared she would not hit the required 40% mark for. She fretted, she worried, she went on and on about how she didn't 'get it', she said she couldn't do it, she got fed up..everything you could imagine...it was about Marx's theory of commodity fetishism for goodness sake and she assured me that she had never even heard of the geezer but that she already hated him!

So what changed? What changed was the intervention of a visiting American soldier...one who had the infinite patience to sit with her, talk her through the subject and coax her into writing her own paper, in her own words. Watching them work together was fascinating...I am a teacher and my first degree is in European history, specialising in part in Russian history, so I kind of knew the subject but I just sat back in wonderment as he guided her through it. They started face to face when we were all in Lancaster but most of the work was done via MSN and all I could do was observe in awe as little by little her confidence grew. Oh and I provided Ben and Jerry's for the teacher. And chocolate. And crisps.

So, I owe a HUGE thank you to a very special somebody - my little girl was typically lacking in self confidence yesterday and nervous of the term ahead. What she needed was a boost in confidence and a little reminder of his words in her ear... "Never, EVER say 'I can't do it.' " was just the ticket.

Lara is a feisty, sassy and hysterically funny young lady but when her nerves and lack of self-belief hit, they are crippling. But today her head is held high, she feels for the first time that she 'belongs' in such a top ranking college. Tonight on the phone she was laughing and heading off for a bit of a wild night in the student bar with her friends and she was happy.

I am so very, very proud of both her and her partner in crime.

Thank you Bert.