Welcome to the world
Who we are, where we live, what's to come...
Dear Jasper,
It’s a Sunday today. Before you were born, Sunday was a day of leisure, on which it was widely acceptable to ignore all one’s responsibilities. Not anymore. There is no off-switch on a baby. It’s OK though, you’re worth it. Since this is our first entry, I’ll briefly set the scene.
You came into the world at the tail end of the Covid-19 pandemic. I wonder how we’ll eventually look back on it (your parents think everyone massively overreacted), and if by the time you’re 18, there will have been another, probably worse one? I hope not.
Anyway, you were born on July 22 in England, in the middle of a heat wave. When you were two weeks old, we moved north across the ocean to Iceland, where we are now living through the coldest winter in 100 years. Home is a red cabin in the middle of the countryside, where sometimes we can see the Northern Lights from our deck.
Here are some facts…
You: Currently, you are six and a half months old. You have two extremely sharp teeth, a bright red birthmark on your shoulder (which may or may not stay there), and not very much hair. You can roll across the room and do push-ups, but, much to your frustration, you can’t quite crawl yet. Personally, I don’t have anything to compare you to, but I’m told you are an exceptionally jolly, even-tempered baby. You like watching Ms Rachel on YouTube, jumping in your Jumperoo and pulling Annabel’s hair. You dislike windy weather, your car seat, and bedtime. As I type this, you are babbling animatedly at your own shadow on the wall by my feet.
Me: I’m almost 36 years old, which I can hardly believe. I reckon most people have an age which, upon reaching, they stand still at (in their minds). Mine is about 28. I don’t feel like I’ve got any older than that, but my wrinkles tell a different story. I have ADHD, which you might inherit. Being diagnosed was an enormous relief and since then (about 5 years ago) I don’t give myself quite such a hard time about my unorthodox character and way of life. I take 300mg Bupropian a day to keep depression at bay. I hope you don’t inherit that. I used to be a journalist at the Daily Mail, then The Telegraph, and now I am freelance and write a lot for The Times. I also have a modest but growing following on TikTok, which is a video platform for other people with short attention spans. I’ve even started to make a bit of money from it. Ideally, some day, I will make enough so that I don’t have to write boring-pay-the-bills-stories for newspapers, and only do the sort of writing I enjoy. But that feels a long way away at the moment. I am vegan, for ethical reasons (more on that another time). I like animals, lists, swimming, black clothing, watching Stevie (Stevie The TV), and using (brackets) in my writing. I dislike bananas, socialising, bureaucracy, and overhead lighting.
Your father: Julius just turned 30, which means that technically I am a cougar (a woman who goes for younger men). Before meeting Julius, I was actually the opposite, and dated much older ones. Julius is absurdly handsome and very athletic, and so far seems to be the source of most of your genes. He is currently a helicopter pilot but he recently qualified as a plane pilot too. Ideally, in the not-too-distant future, he will fly for a major airline. He likes mountains, cold water, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (fighting for fun, weird), Joe Rogan (a famous podcaster), watching movie trailers on YouTube and window shopping on Stevie (this drives Annabel mad). Unlike Annabel, he also likes both bananas and socialising. There aren’t many things that Julius dislikes, but bullies and very ‘woke’ people are among them.
Soon we are visiting England and then going to the Caribbean so that you can see the sun and swim in the sea. One of the major perks of my job as a journalist is that we get to go on free holidays like this, which I then write about. Which is lucky, because the pay is awful.
Anyway, stay tuned for more…
Ever your loving,
Annabel
P.S.
In the news this week: An earthquake in Turkey, a missing mother in England, the first ‘gender-neutral’ Brit Awards, and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
Fact of the week: Only 8% of the global population has blue eyes. You are among them.
Highlight of the week: Jamie, your uncle from Australia, came to visit us and met you for the first time.
Low of the week: Yesterday I felt exhausted, weak and emotional. Stumbled across a video on TikTok about a baby who died and it made me weep.