Crystal Oldman: Three Special Memories
Dear Ester
This is so hard to write. I have three special memories to share, Ester.
We first met when you were 3 years old and Angela was my tutor. I had no children of my own at the time, but my profession included daily contact with children of your age and assessment of their development; so I knew that you were a very special child the moment I met you. So knowing, so intellectually advanced for your young years, so capable of being a part of the conversation amongst a roomful of adults even at that young age! A very special bond was evident in the loving and affectionate relationship with your mum too – a kind of mutual respect that does not normally emerge for a number of decades (and sometimes never) between a parent and child.
A couple of weeks ago I looked at photos of you at our wedding at age four. What a gorgeous picture you made, and really you should have been my bridesmaid – in every photo you were there standing firmly in front of the one adult bridesmaid (an adult) that I had, wrapped in her long skirts and holding her bouquet. After the wedding, the comments about the charming, enchanting and oh-so-obedient little bridesmaid I received were a delight!
Skip forward 14 years for my second memory. This is of the evenings spent in your flat when you were working in the Day Nursery and Alex & Ollie were being tutored for their B’Nei Mitzvah by your mum in the living room. Every Wednesday night you would come home to find that you had Janice & myself in your kitchen, but you never once complained that your teenage space had been invaded. After a long and exhausting day at work, you sat with us on the floor of the kitchen every week for months and sipped tea and chatted about your day and your plans for Africa. You always had time for us and it was like talking to a third friend who had just joined the party. Never mind that there was a 23 year age gap, your mature conversation, exchanging views on humanity and your accounts of your day at work were engaging and amusing and I always looked forward to those evening interludes with you.
I was delighted to have time with you again on Sunday mornings when you were 21 and the boys were again being tutored by Angela for their GSCE. We spent many a happy Sunday morning discussing the dubious potential value to any future career of taking statistics exams, the state of the world and the meaning of life and you never once complained when you woke up to find I was in your kitchen again when you emerged for a quiet Sunday morning. You said that you could never be a teacher and yet Alex & Ollie said that when you joined Angela for any of their sessions over the years they loved your teaching; you were a gifted teacher with an instant rapport with children of all ages and an innate ability to convey knowledge and enable understanding.
My third memory is of the wonderful Pesach and Rosh Hashanah celebrations spent in your home with you and Angela. Our family were welcomed into your home with open arms and I cannot imagine another High Holiday without your beautiful face, your lovely smile, your gorgeous voice, your amazingly accurate mimicking of Adam - and the heated discussions between you & Gary about the latest world news, which you loved to tease him as being singularly responsible for.
Ester, we love you. Gary, Alex, Ollie and I will never experience another Pesach or Rosh Hashanah celebration without remembering what we are missing. You have made each one of us a better person for knowing you and you will always be in our hearts.
Crystal X
P.S. Ester, this was not so hard after all. I only had to think of you and the words (and tears) flowed. CX
This is so hard to write. I have three special memories to share, Ester.
We first met when you were 3 years old and Angela was my tutor. I had no children of my own at the time, but my profession included daily contact with children of your age and assessment of their development; so I knew that you were a very special child the moment I met you. So knowing, so intellectually advanced for your young years, so capable of being a part of the conversation amongst a roomful of adults even at that young age! A very special bond was evident in the loving and affectionate relationship with your mum too – a kind of mutual respect that does not normally emerge for a number of decades (and sometimes never) between a parent and child.
A couple of weeks ago I looked at photos of you at our wedding at age four. What a gorgeous picture you made, and really you should have been my bridesmaid – in every photo you were there standing firmly in front of the one adult bridesmaid (an adult) that I had, wrapped in her long skirts and holding her bouquet. After the wedding, the comments about the charming, enchanting and oh-so-obedient little bridesmaid I received were a delight!
Skip forward 14 years for my second memory. This is of the evenings spent in your flat when you were working in the Day Nursery and Alex & Ollie were being tutored for their B’Nei Mitzvah by your mum in the living room. Every Wednesday night you would come home to find that you had Janice & myself in your kitchen, but you never once complained that your teenage space had been invaded. After a long and exhausting day at work, you sat with us on the floor of the kitchen every week for months and sipped tea and chatted about your day and your plans for Africa. You always had time for us and it was like talking to a third friend who had just joined the party. Never mind that there was a 23 year age gap, your mature conversation, exchanging views on humanity and your accounts of your day at work were engaging and amusing and I always looked forward to those evening interludes with you.
I was delighted to have time with you again on Sunday mornings when you were 21 and the boys were again being tutored by Angela for their GSCE. We spent many a happy Sunday morning discussing the dubious potential value to any future career of taking statistics exams, the state of the world and the meaning of life and you never once complained when you woke up to find I was in your kitchen again when you emerged for a quiet Sunday morning. You said that you could never be a teacher and yet Alex & Ollie said that when you joined Angela for any of their sessions over the years they loved your teaching; you were a gifted teacher with an instant rapport with children of all ages and an innate ability to convey knowledge and enable understanding.
My third memory is of the wonderful Pesach and Rosh Hashanah celebrations spent in your home with you and Angela. Our family were welcomed into your home with open arms and I cannot imagine another High Holiday without your beautiful face, your lovely smile, your gorgeous voice, your amazingly accurate mimicking of Adam - and the heated discussions between you & Gary about the latest world news, which you loved to tease him as being singularly responsible for.
Ester, we love you. Gary, Alex, Ollie and I will never experience another Pesach or Rosh Hashanah celebration without remembering what we are missing. You have made each one of us a better person for knowing you and you will always be in our hearts.
Crystal X
P.S. Ester, this was not so hard after all. I only had to think of you and the words (and tears) flowed. CX
posted by Ester memories at 1:14 pm
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