Guest Post by Jeni Pim: Perseverance

I’m a big fan of Jeni Pim for her cooking but mostly because she is a very kind, intelligent person who I feel lucky to call my friend. When I asked if she’d like to write a guest post for my blog, she responded with such warmth and enthusiasm it made me actually visit my blog to see if it was really that good! But it’s not about my being good, it’s about Jeni being good – and giving. She is amazing at so many things, I’m thrilled to include a special guest post here from her! You may remember my mentioning Jeni in this post about the Goodall’s A Modern Irish Cookbook (Hint: Cardamom Plum Cake!)

Guest Post by Jeni Pim

Perseverance

It’s a funny word isn’t it?  We recently got a kitten for the house to keep our older cat company (and also to “scare” the rodents away”).  He plays constantly with a ball that rolls around and around a tube, he physically cannot get the ball out of the tube unless he dismantles it, which, by the way, the older cat has discovered how to do.  The kitten just persists, for hours, and then returns to try again.

Similarly with the children, about 2 years ago the kids went for an audition for a voiceover for “Blood Brothers” that was to be playing in the Theatre Royal in Waterford.  Himself, being older, was really very good at the Liverpool accent, and the director was quite happy for him to play the part, herself, being younger, just couldn’t quite get it in the audition.  She got upset, as failure isn’t in her vocabulary.  To be fair, the director recorded the piece for her and told us to come back the next day so she could try again.

So we did, and by gosh, she had practiced all night I’d say, and was word perfect, WITH a beaming smile.

Over Christmas we decided to try to walk up to Coumshineun Lake, in the Comeragh’s.  It is approximately 2 km, but is on tracks, and a reasonably difficult climb.  We had intended trying it St Stephen’s Day, but the inclement weather would have made it dangerous, so we saved it for that weekend.  We had to give up when we were approx. 75% of the way there, youngest was just too tired.  However one week later, with a rucksack of tea to have as a picnic at the top, we achieved it.  As a family we persevered!  It was the most wonderful feeling of achievement for us all.

In short I think that perseverance is something we embrace when we are young, be it learning to walk, or talk, or read.  But when we are older things get more difficult and complicated, be it getting quality time for your family, or losing weight, or saving money, we just seem to lose the urge to persevere.  Our family aim this year is to persevere in all we try to do.  Be it in our relationships, school/ work, and as a family.  It pays off dividends.