Birthday Boy

The joys of parenthood! Happy to say all is well and we are looking forward to bringing Benedict home tomorrow. Luna is rapidly recovering too, she is back on her feet again and she is coping with everything brilliantly, even her daft husband's notions that he could go out and play golf this morning. I think we are starting to realise a little about what we have let ourselves in for. Throughout most of yesterday Benedict howled when I went near him and then later in the evening he lay in my arms for almost two hours. I feel for Luna cos she has the breasts and they're what Benedict wants!

I am 51 today. A few years back didn't look as though I would make it even to 50. I can only say I have experienced an astonishing transformation. Perhaps this will help you understand why I might appear to be a little religious! Of course I would say that I am not religious at all. Sure I am a practising Catholic but I would say that what has brought all this together is a spiritual conversion triggered by my decision to stop gambling and then to get sober and to have been able to maintain this state for a little while now. This came from a process of fellowship, human fellowship, not from sitting in church pews. As my life was given back to me I started to understand and to accept that what was at work was a power much greater than I will ever be. Progressively I have developed a relationship with that higher power that I now choose to call God and if you like developed a spiritual life. Along the way I felt increasingly comfortable about formalising that into a conventional religious format. So I went back to what I knew best, the Catholic Church, and was welcomed back with open arms.

First and foremost our son is called Benedict because he is a real blessing. I doubt we would have called him Benedict if the current Pope was not so called as well. His second name, Panya, is after the Bishop of Ratchaburi who married us. Panya means wisdom in the ancient language of Pali, which is to Buddhism what Latin is to Catholicism. We believe Luna conceived on her wedding night or very soon after and we attribute that to Bishop Panya's blessing. We have solid reasons for this belief other than it making a nice, romantic story.

So today with Benedict Panya and my wife Luna I am having a perfect birthday. God bless you all.