School Daze with Mary Kennedy: Savour the moments

Mary Kennedy fell in love with the Irish language thanks to her favourite teacher, Mrs Redmond

I went to school in Clondalkin, where I grew up and I went to the Presentation Convent for both primary and secondary school. Then, because I am a glutton for punishment, I went back there when I qualified as a teacher! I taught Irish and French at Coláiste Bríde, the secondary school I had attended.

It was eye-opening going back as an adult. When I was in secondary school I thought 'my God - my teachers are ancient!' When I went back as a teacher, I realised that many of them were about four or five years older than me and no more!

I was a nerd. Not always, though. When I went into first year, I kind of kicked back a bit. I had been very studious in primary school and I didn't do very well in my summer tests of first year. My mother was very annoyed with me and I had a light bulb moment.

When I went back in September I remember saying to myself 'this is ridiculous! You're only here for one reason, and that's to get good results'. I went to the other extreme. I think I'm maybe a bit of a perfectionist, but after that, I became a nerd, really put the head down and I studied far too much.

Languages were my strength and I loved them. I loved the sound of them, I loved the shape of them, I loved the way they looked on the page. I adored Irish; it would have been my favourite subject.

But of course, Irish is about so much more than language. It's about identity, and it's about culture and it's about songs.

Languages came easy to me, I think. I also loved French and I did French in college with Irish. I lived in France for a year after college and I love everything about the country.

At the other end of the spectrum, I struggled with maths. That side of my brain doesn't function at all and I don't think it even exists!

It's in hindsight that you realise a lot of what you learn at school end up being life lessons. Hard work always pays off, that's a big lesson that I carry with me.

Also, friendships are important. I'm happy to say that there are still particularly two girls that was in secondary school with, that I'm still really, really close to. The other women that I am very close to are those that I taught alongside.

Growing up, my mother used to always impress on us not to judge people and to always put yourself in another person's shoes. She would always ask us to look at an argument from the other person's perspective and see if it looks any different, and I've really taken that on board and always do it. I would tell her to relax and enjoy! I was a very serious child.

If I met my teenage self now, I would tell her that she doesn't have to study six hours a night for her Leaving Cert! Something that I've learned quite recently is to live in the moment. Not to be always striving for the next thing and looking forward all the time. Savour the moment.

The teacher who influenced me the most was called Mrs Redmond and she was my Irish teacher. I had her from first year up to Leaving Cert. We thought she had a personality change after Inter Cert, which is what we call the Junior Cert now, but actually now I think it was that we changed, and became a little bit more mature.

She was so strict up until third year but when we grew up a little and had proven ourselves with our honours Irish, she relaxed and she was delightful. She is the reason why I fell in love with the Irish language. When we were in fifth year, she organised a group of us to go down to the Gaeltacht in Kerry. I think it was quite a brave move, really. She was from North Kerry and she arranged for us to stay in a house there. It was 1970, so very forward-thinking.

I had hardly been outside Dublin and this marked the beginning of my obsession with the Irish language. I loved every minute of it. I fell in love with the place, the language, the culture and everything about it, and it's down to Mrs Redmond.

Mary Kennedy has joined forces with The Irish Osteoporosis Society to urge women, particularly those like Mary aged over 65, to take the health of their bones seriously. Visit irishosteoporosis.ie to see if you are at risk of having osteoporosis.