Having children

Starting my shift at 4:00 pm, I crossed Frederic with a bunch of other Frenchies in the control room. We are out at Fermilab for the D0-collaboration meeting next week, so many shifts are taken by French collaborators. We chatted a little bit, about summer and all the changes coming up: no more convenerships, new students, for Frederic teaching a class and overall becoming a father in January.

With all the new babies around, I get sometimes a little sad of not having children myself. I know, that it is not the fact of having children that makes oneself happy or unhappy, that there are many ways to live without having children, that children are never as you expected them to be and that it is not up to children to provide immortality, a sense of life, emotional stability etc. Yet, it looks wonderful to get pregnant, have children, to participate in what will be the next generation, to love them and care for them and see them growing up.

Yes, I do regret not having children. It was so easy to get absorbed in work, unfortunate encounters and mishaps I badly dealt with, while maybe running away from a lasting relationship. Now I am forty, single, and still asking myself if there will be a chance to have children one day or if it is too late. I hate to see advertisements for menopause relief pills on TV “for women from 40 onwards”.

Veronique Boisvert initiated an “Informal discussion on family planning” that will be held on Thursday, September 29^th at Fermilab, noon-1:30 in Wilson Hall 1 East – certainly one of the best ideas that I’ve seen on the women-scientist mailing list. Within the e-mail discussion that followed, Evelyne Thomson pointed to a link to a section of the Chronical of Higher Education dedicated to work and family with contributions also beyond the question of how to deal with children when working in academia. Evelyne pointed out however to take some of these contributions with a grain of salt.

So, good luck and all my best wishes to the new parents!

Comments

[claire.bertiaux]

Ceci est dédicacé au très grand Monsieur en qui le mondede des physiciens a contribué à me faire perdre confiance: oui tu m'as sauvée, parun phénomène ineplicable par la science, du cancer annoncé, ou pour le moins des teribles investigations scientifiques que l'affaire distilbene a induite. Je dis bien Ursula , terribles insvestigations.Je remercierai à ma façon Ursula et tommaso d'insister en ce jour où j'ai rendez vous médical important pour expliquer ce mystère à la médecine: L'un sur les effets négatifs des pouvoirs psychiques. Là il ne s'agit pas probablement de pouvoir mais de communion. Car c'était totalement involontaire puisque l'auteur ignorait la nature du problème. L'autre sur son désir d'enfant. Coîncidence j'ai eu une ménopause précoce à 40 ans. Comment le sauriez-vous Ursula? Si vous le savez, le nom de SOLOMON employé dans le blog de Steinberg n'est pas fortuit...Ce trèsgrand Monsieur doit bien seposer des questions de constater que Monsieur Doringo insiste sur les effets négatifs des communications de ce type. Tout en nous ayant fait partager ses angoissesdans ses rêves...prémonitoires... Effets négatifs? Que pense la justice de l'environnement autour de Vincent Humbert?
Je reviens après avoir traduit...

[CLAIRE.BERTIAUX]

PRECISION/ DEUX AUTRES TEXTES ONT ETE CENSURES APRES AVOIR ETE EN LIGNE UN MOMENT. JE TIENS LES VERSIONS IMPRIMEES A DISPOSITION. JE PRECISE ICI QUE LA PERSONNE QUALIFIEE DE TRES GRAND MONSIEUR N EST EN AUCUN CAS MONSIEUR SOLOMON.

[m.visaya]

KGD7: p->c6; //rpch