When my mother talks to people she doesn’t know very well, or is upset, she waves her hands around and talks too much. In those situations it’s better to let her do all the talking. Yesterday was one such example, when she was discussing the implications of my exam results with one of my teachers. In short, one module of my Music exam had been moderated down 10 marks from an A to a C – making the difference between an overall A or B. In Music this is rather important as it’s difficult to re-take or re-mark the coursework or performance modules.
Anyway, my mother was being very much a mother, as well as a music teacher herself. I was a bit upset about this as I expected straight As for Music at least, and it was a bit of a shock. Mum said all the right things, including how the exact same thing happened to her when she was my age – but it didn’t really make me feel better. We went to see my teacher, and she launched into a long conversation with him. She said something along the lines of “It’s really so frustrating, I could shake the examiners sometimes! I know she has got it!”
In reply my teacher just looked at me and quietly said “Of course she has.”
Sometimes it’s the quietest, smallest things that mean the most.