One Little Boy

The explanation about the spelling of Mathew’s name is really very simple. It’s not historic, or familial, it was actually down to a good old-fashioned clerical human error. About an hour after he was born, we were all cuddling together in a hospital bed and a very tired Philippa looked down at him and said, “He kind of looks like a Matthew.” It wasn’t a name either of us had considered at any point during the pregnancy, but as soon as she said it, it just seemed right. He DID kind of look like a Matthew. One of the nurses on duty was a lovely Spanish lady whose English was not particularly impressive. She was the one who wrote his name on a hospital tag and she misunderstood it when we spelt it for her. When we looked at it written down – again – it just looked right, and we decided to go with it.

RC 31-12-18