2025 has been the toughest year of my life. I lost both my mother and my aunt (mother’s younger sister).

So returning to MathsConf38 was the ultimate healing I could have asked for.

Teaching mathematics is one of the most amazing things in the world, and doing it for a living reminds me of what a rare and precious gift I have in my life.

I love the subject deeply. And I love how it holds the immense power to transform people in unimaginable, infinite ways. As cliché as it sounds, it is the language of the universe.

But it’s easy to forget that when life gets heavy. Deep in grief, the days blurred into one. Just turning up to teach felt like a challenge. It felt like a lonely world that no one understands.

There were moments I barely held it together. I was thrown around the globe : Buenos Aires, Tokyo, New Delhi, and Londonin less than 2 months. My tango learning from the elite instructor in the world disrupted as I flew back to London to say goodbye to mum. Traveling mid-academic year to unite my mother’s ashses to the holy Ganges in Rishikesh, India. And to reconnect with long lost family.

I had to take time off but I could never leave my Year 11s and Year 13s stranded. I worked with one of my Year 13 tutees for 8 years (we started in Year 5). I had to take him and all my other exam tutees to the end of the line.

In those days, I needed mathematics in my life more than they could ever have known.

And then, like clockwork, the Complete Mathematics conference arrived, gathering the most passionate, curious, and learning-hungry maths teachers under one roof.

I saw this beautiful subject expanded in all its glory through other teachers.
A new viewpoint. A new perspective.

I left feeling grounded again, not just as a teacher, but as a human being who has walked through fire and is slowly, steadily, finding their way back.

Thank you to everyone who made MathsConf38 what it was.
To the brilliant teachers who keep showing up, sharing, learning, and inspiring.
To the kind teacher who gave me an antihistamine as my face puffed up from an allergic reaction due to heat, pollen, travel.
To all that pub chat at the pre-conference social.
To the coffee table buzz during breaks as everyone shared what excited them.
To the wonderful workshop leaders who made me excited to be a student of mathematics again.
To Mark McCourt for starting this show all that time back.
And above all, to the Complete Mathematics team for putting it together.

You helped me more than you’ll ever know.

(I felt inspired and sparred with AI, making my voice more like mine to put this post together)