The literal translation of "C'est la vie, mon ami" is "That's life my friend".
C'est la vie means "that's life" or "such is life", while "mon" is a determinative which means "my" and ami is a noun that means "friend".
C'est la vie, mon ami (That's life my friend) is also a title of a French curriculum inspired song. Check it out at Singinfrench.com.
Learning French, like any other new language, implies a lot of memorization, and often, as adults, our memory is not what it used to be. Check out some tips that will help you memorize new information longer, and learn French more efficiently at Frenchtoday.com.