The Owl's Nest: First Communion of my godchild

Since the year 2003, I have been the proud godfather of Xavier Venou Walter, first-born son to my high school friends Simone (née Quien), and Dominik. Interestingly, Xavier's and my birthday are only seven days apart (with him coming first in the calendar year).

Being a godfather in the original sense of the word is a religious duty, rather than a rank in a syndicate ... but I do try to be as close to Xavi that we can be called "partners in crime". Nevertheless, the obligations that come with it are part worldly, part otherwordly. I am encouraged to be a special friend, yet I am supposed to be a role model Catholic as well. The latter would be at odds with my personal beliefs, and I admit that this caused me so much distress that at first I had rejected the honor, but then later (after good advice from similarly not-so-Catholic-role-model people) changed my mind, with the blessing of Xavier's parents.

Previously I have given account of the three most difficult periods of my life (yet). Those made it top three because one way or another I felt being bullied at the respective time; by a colleague, by the pain of a failed relationship (but not by the ex-partner herself , of course), and by the bleak odds of getting hired during a global economic crisis. However, the hardship of said breakup was intensified by a very disappointing experience at the end of my time as an undergraduate student. - At the time the highest and also the only undergraduate degree awarded in a Department of Chemistry was that of Diplomchemiker (for those who did not follow a hybrid curriculum with significant time spent on business and economics), which required a four-year course load that was actually more equivalent to the Anglosaxon Master's, as it did comprise certain classes even at the 400 and 500 level, and a thesis that was actually given less time (6-12 months) than a Master's (1-2 years). In my case the thesis was the very last academic challenge, tackled even after the finals. I very much looked forward to it, as it marked a significant change. From then on I was no longer required to nerdly memorize a cohort of bible-sized books, but allowed, even encouraged, to give in to my urge to play around and research. Or so I thought. Turns out, my advisor had little interest in my success, or that of the other Diplomands, he only wanted cheap labor to have his lab equipment assembled. That means he cared more about his machinery being set up that giving us the time we needed to actually use it. To cut a long story short, it was a bad combination of both scientific and managerial incompetence from which I was appalled enough to eventually pursue my PhD elsewhere ... in Berlin. (Yay!) So, there I was (in 2002/2003), still recovering from a bad breakup, sad about not being in Glasgow anymore (read about my Erasmus semester here), upset by the fact that my finals got delayed by the provicial powertrip of a scientific staffer (I'll tell about that another time), grieved by the death of my maternal grandmother, and ultimately disappointed by the (at best) non-existing scientific guidance from my so-called advisor ...

Imagine how emboldened I felt by this generous offer by Simone and Dominik! (Guys, if you ever wondered about the dedication I put in your copy of my Diploma thesis, now you know.) While the title of this post refers just to his First Communion, this holiday has inspired me to reflect a little on the time we have spent together so far. The pride of being entrusted with an important duty has more than outweighed the various difficulties life has had in stash for me since then. This pride got renewed on multiple occasions, whenever I realized that I actually did manage to make a difference for Xavier. I cannot tell you without boasting about it, but I am quite flattered when Xavier tells me that he considers a career in Chemistry ... even thought I feel I should maybe try to protect him from that ... So I he sees in me a role model after all! That makes me think that I may have gotten the better end of the deal ...

Here are some photos after the ceremony at church.