Improve Your English: English in Everyday Life

The Role of W
ome
n
49
remember as I was older that, you know, it was some-
thing that she had to do and, she had, you know, she had 
to clean the house and we had to get things done and 
let’s move, and there was less, “OK, so what’s going on? 
Tell me what’s, what are you, what did you do today?” or 
whatever, um, where I thi—, I-I have that more with Aida. 
Um, also my mother had six children, so that reduces the 
time you can sp—, allocate to one individual, where I 
don’t have that re—, constraint.
I remember, um, my mom went to college, and I 
remember her telling me that she had the option of either 
becoming a nurse or becoming a teacher. Um, I never felt 
that I had those two options. Um, so I think choice is one 
big diff erence, um. I-I-I guess there were three roles. I 
guess you could become a nurse, become a teacher until 
you became a mother. I think that’s sort of how she had 
it all 
laid out
, um, where I never, I never felt that there 
was just those three options—I think that-that’s a big 
diff erence.
So I think that’s one-one big one is just what are your 
options for the future, what-what do you want to be. Um, 
I f—, I feel like that sort of trickles down into all areas of 
your life. I think if you-you have, if it’s very clear you have 
these three options, then everything gets narrowed down 
and so you exclude other things because, I mean, what 
would be the point of pursuing anything else if tho—, if 
that’s where you’re headed? Um, I think one signifi cant 
diff erence is my access to sports. Um, that is a-a defi n-
ing, like, characteristic of my background, growing up, 
and I was always involved in sports, and it really opened 
doors, like it brought me to a college I never would have 
dreamed of going to because I didn’t even know about 
it, but they recruited me, so then I went and I was like, 
“Oh, love this place. Let’s go here.” Uh, where my mom, 
although I know she’s a tremendously athletic woman, 
she, they didn’t have sports teams when she was in school, 

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