Happy Mother's Day!

She taught me to watch my step when going down stairs

And to eat with a spoon and drink from a cup

She taught me not to splash around when using the boys’ room

And to fold my socks and iron my trousers

She taught me to pay attention to detail

And enjoy the tiredness at the end of the day as you sit back

And look at the work you have done - critically

She taught me to be proud without being arrogant

And to be calm in the face of adversity

(Although I do not manage either very well)

More than anything else

She taught me to believe in myself

And to dare to dream  ...

Once up on a time, in a more innocent world, when 9/11 was still the 9th of November, I went for an English Language Test. The examiner asked me what would be my dream job and a much leaner, younger, wide-eyed, naive, hot-headed and ever so slightly reckless version of me (who had not stepped out of a 5 mile radius of his house for all 23 years of his life) said:

‘I would like to teach Medicine at Cambridge or Oxford’ - not even knowing what it really meant let alone the journey it would set me on.

More than a decade later as I sit typing this, having finished my first week in my dream job, I know who to thank for all the little things which led to all the not so little things in my life.

To my mother - a genuine superhero in disguise