The events of this chapter all happened over a few weeks in October 1995. At the time I was a couple of months into my year abroad studying at the University of Texas in Austin. I had just turned 20, and my brother Andy was 18. What follows are some of my memories about his […]

Our wedding day. The best day of my life. Like that stag week in Austin in October 2000, the occasion was always going to be special, simply because all of my best friends and my family were gathered together in one place. But then to be married to the amazing Farah, outdoors, on a sunny October afternoon, […]

There are not many moments in my life when I can specifically recall the minute where something happened and everything changed. But at 11:47pm, on Wednesday October 26th, 2011, our daughter was born. For a while we didn’t think it would happen. We actually started trying to get pregnant about three years earlier while we […]

There is a framed photograph on my desk of me in Austin 16 years ago, surrounded by my best friends from high school and university. I’ve just lost a game of soccer, I’m hot, I’m jet-lagged, and we are all exhausted. But I’m so very happy. When I first lived in Austin, in 1995, I […]

I’ve been trying to write another chapter these past few weeks but I just can’t do it. I’m obsessed with the Chicago Cubs’ run to the baseball World Series. My Chicago Cubs. And so I’ve realized that the only way I’ll get a chapter done right now, is just to write about the Cubs. The thing is though, […]

It was two weeks before the big trial was due to start, and Reid was about to meet with his expert for the first time in midtown Manhattan. It was a warm Friday evening in August, which meant that most other New York professionals were already at their summer homes in the Hamptons. Such luxuries […]

In September 2014, I was in Scotland as the country voted to decide whether it should be independent from the United Kingdom. It was an unforgettable, inspirational, and ultimately heartbreaking experience. I’ve written a lot in the past few years about my support for an independent Scotland, and how I reached that decision. It’s an […]

I have to come realize that I have lived most of my life under the pressure of self-imposed deadlines. This writing project is a perfect example. I didn’t have to do this. But for some reason I set myself the ludicrous goal of writing a chapter a week for a year. I’ve enjoyed doing it, mostly, […]

Very few people thought that it was a good idea for me to get married so young to my first real girlfriend, after we had only been together for 6 months. While ultimately they might have been proved right, I don’t regret it. It didn’t work out but I’m a better person for it, and […]