Com hyder, thou, sir John…

So…here I am again.

Two years ago, before and after the birth of my son, I disappeared from this blog for about six months while I adjusted to the joys and challenges of fatherhood.¹ I’d been preparing for both, but hadn’t fully realized how little time it would leave me for non-essentials like typing or sleeping.

And since I’m nothing if not a slow learner, I went ahead and did it again.

This is John Leopold Sexton,² who on December 20th became the early Christmas present that officially pushed life from busy to utterly mad. He’s a serious little guy, much quieter than his brother…most of the time. They get along quite well.

Carl’s been teaching John about the importance of a well-framed selfie…

So, in short, life is good and joyful and very, very full. This blog, however, has been calling to me lately, and there’s plenty I still want to say about life in the academic trenches. So I hope to be back to semi-regular activity…and I promise to keep the kiddie pictures to a minimum.

1 And just as happened last time, Kisha has been so busy, eloquent, and dedicated to keeping things going that it’s probably obvious to everyone by now that I’m essentially here by her sufferance.

2 John is named for two great-grandfathers, two great-uncles, his father, and a number of other family members (Johns tend to multiply like quantum cats in an unobserved box).  His middle name is for a third great-grandfather. John isn’t the world’s most exciting name, but as a John myself, I can testify that it has the advantage of being entirely value-neutral. Also, “John Leopold” sounds like a pretty reasonable name for an ecclesiast with Papal ambitions, which makes sense for a second son and matches up with his older brother Carl Joseph sounding vaguely like an also-ran for Holy Roman Emperor.