Lovely Chicken Dinner

Chicken in a cream of white wine sauce, with shallots and tarragon.

Welcome to the new cooking section of LinkedIn, with your chef du jour, Chef Norton.

Although LinkedIn is a business networking site, I go to work with a sense of purpose knowing that I am supporting my family. I also go to work knowing that my wife can deal with anything thrown at her if I’m away from everyone, which I often have been in the last 15 years, and sometimes for long periods.

There are rightly lots of shout outs on LinkedIn for great managers, employers, mentors, coaches and colleagues that help us do our jobs more easily and develop us as people in our careers. I celebrate all of those people, which I have been fortunate to benefit from for several decades and am grateful to every one of them.

But 25 years ago today, I married Christine Halcrow, who very graciously took my name to become Christine Norton. Amazing wife, mother to two lovely boys, centre of our family and the rock on which our family is built on.

If life has a purpose for me it’s working hard every day of my life to be the best husband, father and life partner to Christine that I can be, and continuing my life’s mission to be a better person than the one I was the day before we were married.

After 25 years and 50 bi-annual performance reviews, I’m pleased to confirm that 50 unbroken 10/10 reviews have been fully deserved. I’m just not sure that mine will be anywhere near as high. Don’t get me started on my lack of consistency.

So no 25th anniversary party, which we blew out a few months ago due to C-19, but a gentle day out at RHS Wisley Gardens. Just the two of us, still always happy to enjoy each other’s company and make each other laugh, even after all this time.

This photo was taken at exactly the same time as our wedding photos were being finished on a gloriously sunny day in Staffordshire. 

For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. We’ve ticked all four of those, but it’s been a great 25 years of unconditional love and support, which has flattened the bumps in the road when we’ve hit them.

In the evening we had a rather splendid dinner with our lovely boys, cooked by the real chef of the house, Madame Norton. Wife, mother, life partner, the most selfless person I’ve ever met and an all-round amazing human being.

Work’s important, but when home life runs this well, it provides a foundation that makes everything at work go so much more smoothly.

Credit to all the people I’ve worked with that have helped me along the way, but the most credit goes to the person for whom it’s most deserved.

Here’s to the next 25 years, Christine Norton!!!