March 15, 2000

DOWN HOME:
Compared to his girls, he's simply bi-illiterate
___Our daughters have been undertaking an endeavor their mother and I missed.
___And I do mean missed.
___If I'd had any sense when I was younger, I would've learned to speak Spanish too.
___One of my greatest shortcomings in college was to drop Spanish 1. I try not to be too hard on that homesick 18-year-old kid who got scared off by the prospect of memorizing 283 Spanish words the first week of the first semester of his freshman year. But if he'd realized he was growing up to live in this Texas of the 21st century, he would've stayed

MARV KNOX Editor

with the challenging but rewarding task of learning another language. Yep, Spanish.
___So this year, I've been enjoying watching Lindsay and Molly learn the other language of Texas.
___They make their ol' dad proud when they speak Spanish at the dinner table, because I know if they stick with it they'll more fully enjoy the richness and diversity of life in the Lone Star State during the next six or seven decades. Spanish is and will be a vital part of our culture and heritage, even more tomorrow than today.
___Almost every week, Lindsay and Molly have enchanted their mother and me with their glib recitation of new words and phrases.
___Reminds me of when my college roommate, Dirk, took an intensive Spanish course and practiced on me at night in the dorm.
___I say I've enjoyed watching the girls learn Spanish. That really was true until about a week ago. That's when Lindsay came home and announced her class was learning how to complain in Spanish.
___Oh, great. Now Texas teenagers can be bi-gripy.
___Ay, que pesado, she can protest when I remind her of some particularly onerous chore. "Oh, what a pain!"
___And if she thinks her sister gets a better deal than she does, she now can tell us, No es justo! "It's not fair."
___Later, as she adds a load of dishes to the washer, she can declaim, Estoy harta de limpiar los platos. "I'm sick and tired of cleaning the plates."
___Siempre me toca a mi, she might add. "I always have to do it." While that might be good Spanish, it ain't true.
___Bi-lingual complaining, of course, could get extremely old, especially if I were to memorize these Spanish protestations so that I actually could understand them.
___The girls at least have a heavenly father who, unlike their dear ol' mono-lingual dad, always will understand them, who always will hear them patiently.
___And whether they say it of me (I hope they will), they always can say of him, Tu eres un Padre excelente. "You are an excellent Father."
___

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