Recently I celebrated three years of officially studying Italian! And while I still feel like a baby on my language journey, I also know that linguistically, and more important, spiritually, I have come a long way.

I never planned to learn Italian, despite having grown up with a grandfather who emigrated from Southern Italy when he was a teenager, and spoke with a rich, thick accent for the 60 years that he lived here in America. Certainly I wasn’t looking to fill time. With three kids in three different schools and competitive sports in the evenings, my days — and nights — were spent primarily behind the steering wheel.

Still, one day, my husband innocently enough suggested we learn Italian before our family’s summer trip to Italy, and that little nudge sparked a passion in me which caught me completely by surprise.

In sharing this post, my intent is not to encourage you…