8th February, 2021

I’ve decided, as a sign of good form and to hold myself accountable to keeping some untouchable time outside of work, that I’ll try not to include weekend days in this diary (save for perhaps the odd Monday reflection on what has happened over the weekend).

So, it’s now (at the time of writing) a Monday, and Day 6 of the fellowship. And, oddly enough, for being so early on in the fellowship process, I’m off again…for very good reason! At 09:47, my wife and I welcomed our baby boy into the world. Following the difficult birth and emergency C-section that brought us our wonderful daughter 2 years previous, today’s arrival was an elective C-section. Nothing is more gratifying than to be able to say he, my newborn son, and my wife are both doing wonderfully well.

Having kids, or having the duty to help look after kids, is the ultimate perspective setter. If you, like me, were once the person who got bored listening to people talking about their kids, you - as a parent - will instantly become the person you used to avoid.

In having children, I’ve reflected more on the challenges my own mum and dad faced in raising me and my two younger brothers. I’ve taken whole hours in the silent contemplation of not being able to truly grasp how fortunate it is to be here at all. And it’s with such potentially cheesy notions of how wonderfully weird life truly is that I find myself being able to bring the best of myself to my fellowship, by making sure I live my life, in all its dimensions, to the fullest of its potential.

I end the evening with a single amber dram of whisky, to ‘wet the baby’s head’, to reflect on a miraculous day, to seek comfort in making the most of the rare time at home now, to bringing the fullness of myself to my fellowship when I return to the lab.

Life is magic.

Other ways to listen: