Prom '01 Sofie Mackeprang´s happy words as a mum from Denmark

Being a mother is so wonderful!

Dear everyone at Newton College!

It must be about time that I write you!

Time goes by so fast! I look away for one second, and suddenly I have a baby in my arms and someone says that he is mine. Wild! I just love being a mom!

I always thought of myself as becoming this career-person, warring black suits, traveling first-class between the continents, doing business with important people. Children would be something other people had. I guess I was wrong. Now I can't see how I could ever imagine a future without minimum 4-5 children. It's crazy how people change. And all it took was meeting the right guy! Sounds corny, I know! I can´t help getting a little sentimental.

Janus was my tutor when I entered university in August 2003. Teachers marry teachers. Dentists marry dentists, but apparently biochemists have children with biochemists. He is now finishing his masters. His field is isolation of stemcells... I haven't quite decided what mine is going to be. Anyway, in august 2004 we decided to have a baby. I had a relatively easy pregnancy. I threw up constantly for four months, but nothing else. On August 12, 5 days after my due date and 4 days before my birthday, I gave birth to a perfect boy. I can't say he was little, because he wasn't. We had discussed a lot of names, both boys and girls names, but I wanted to see my baby before naming it. And Harald it was! Harald, like his great grandfather who was a carpenter in Svendborg. Harald, like the great Viking, Harald Bluetooth. My baby-Viking weighed 4700g and measured 56cm.

The days go by so fast. I have tones of little projects. And bigger projects. I didn't know how to cook anything until I got pregnant, so that has definitely been craving a great deal of work! It kind of goes with the whole mom-package. I mean, who wants a mom who can't bake a cake? Between my worst creations are carrot soup and lever paté.

I've made a lot of new friends lately. Other moms, mostly. We take long walks together, drink coffee at the little cafes in the centre of the city and visit each other. It's nice to have a common field of interest! I found it rather difficult to keep up with the lots-of-beers-University-lifestyle and surprisingly little understanding of my "situation" from my fellow students. Here in Denmark it's not very common to have children when you're 20. Especially not in the academic circles! Suddenly it felt like we were speaking two different languages. They would say "lots of beers, Saturday night, hangover" and I would reply "look at this cute baby-outfit, I'm so tired, my back hurts!" No wonder it had to end. I still see a few of them, though. But we always have a dictionary by the hand, whenever were together!

To tell you a little about our future plans! Janus will hopefully have finished his masters during this fall. As from January 2006, we will, if we find the right investor, be starting a biotech company selling antibodies for research. It's a whole new method, which we have taken patent on! It´s all very exciting, especially if it works out. We're also making plans about buying a house. Preferably an old half-timbered house somewhere in the countryside. Traveling plans are not very concrete yet. We have so much to see to at the moment. Janus would really like to go to Peru some day, and so would I.

Mr. Nash, I have to write you a special note. I think about you frequently and hope that your students are kind to you! Some day I'll come to visit you in your hut on the banks of the Tambopata River!

The very best regards to everyone!