Christmas, they say, is a time to be thankful.
It was with those opening words, penned whilst sat in the living room of my parents’ house in Cambridge, that I began my very first blog post (formerly Facebook notes) – Ramy’s Alternative Xmas Message – exactly 10 years ago today.
In many ways, my life now is almost unrecognisable compared to the one I had a decade ago. Back then I was a still fresh faced junior doctor living in Burton-on-Trent, unlucky in love, still coming to terms with the passing of my Mum less than a year earlier, and unfocused as to the exact direction in which I wanted life to take me. I wasn’t unhappy, certainly, but I also had a nagging feeling that I could be doing something different with my life.
Cut to the present day: I can sometimes scarcely believe it, but I’ve now been working as a GP, and living in Nottingham, for over 6 years. And then, of course, just a little under 2 years ago the world went topsy-turvy, and the impacts of COVID-19 have very much become a part of the fabric of our day-to-day existence. Masks, self-isolation, event postponements, ever increasing pressures on the healthcare service … these are just some of the many new realities with which I and so many others now have to contend each and every day – and it doesn’t look like that’s going to go away any time soon. It’s hard. It’s frustrating. It’s disheartening. But, in a strange way, I do take a measure of comfort in knowing that, ultimately, we’re all weathering the same storm.
But in amongst all the madness, there has been true 24 carat gold. Katie and I finally managed to tie the knot last year (after a COVID induced delay of almost 3 agonising months), and – against even greater odds – we even managed to celebrate our nuptials at a reception with friends and family back in early Autumn … a scant 520 days (!) later than planned. Both are special days that I shall treasure forever – perhaps all the more so because I know just how much we struggled to be allowed to celebrate them at all.
And then there’s Samuel – our beautiful baby boy, born at the end of September. Ever since he came along, my life feels like it’s taken a huge leap forwards – and not just in the realisation that, for the moment at least, a full night’s uninterrupted sleep is very much a thing of the past. He has a face whose chubby cheeks almost cry out to be pinched. He has a smile that can warm your heart in an instant. And when I look into his eyes, my life unquestionably feels like it has more meaning than it did before.
Life – and love – in the time of COVID certainly hasn’t been easy. But days like today do give one the perfect opportunity to reflect on all of life’s gifts (material and otherwise!); on that basis, I certainly feel like a very lucky man – one who’s not just thankful, but also humbled too.
Merry Christmas, everyone; let’s just hope that 2022 doesn’t unwisely try to upstage its two immediate predecessors…
Ramy’s World 