The decade in which one’s three children are born will have to rank among the best ones ever, no matter what else happened. But then add marriage, a move to America1, completing 25 years of training2, getting a dream job, becoming an uncle — twice — and not to forget, starting this blog, and, well, it is hard to imagine things getting any better.
So yes, it has been a good ten years. Certainly better than any other ten-year span I’ve had. A good test would be imagining the ten-year-ago me learning the outcome of the single decision he’s made back in 2008 to go for residency training in the US of A instead of a PhD in Germany, and I’m not one to pee their pants from excitement but I do imagine myself coming close, even without knowing the counterfactual.
Is America the greatest country in the world? It was for me, at the time, even as a visitor3. And it may continue being so for decades to come; I don’t see any competitors coming close.4