It’s hard to recall my life before Mehmet Berkmen.
In April 2007, my trusty 1996 Nissan Sentra needed some repairs. With a 30-mile weekday commute from Somerville to New England Biolabs in Ipswich, it was clear that I needed alternative transportation while my car was in the shop. I had heard that a recently hired scientist, Mehmet Berkmen, just purchased a house in Somerville. Perfect. Mehmet and his wife live two blocks from me, so we agreed to carpool as often as possible.
I had no idea this simple favor would turn into a friendship. I had no idea that I was blindly walking into Mehmet’s elaborate plan of providing care to his 4 month old baby! You see, each day Mehmet delivers little Kaan to the onsite daycare facility at New England Biolabs, and retrieves Kaan at the end of the day.
In just our second day of carpooling, Kaan experienced painful teething and was not afraid to share -- in the form of constant ear piercing screams, with Mehmet saying to me “Brian I am soooooo sorry you have to be here for this!”
But Kaan is an incredibly well-behaved child in the car, and he’s typically asleep within 10 minutes of driving. His nickname is the “motion-detector,” because he demands that the move constantly. Should traffic halt our progress, he’s sure to express his dissatisfaction. I guess we’re just preparing him early on for the traffic woes that annoy all of us in the Bostonians!
After a few weeks of carpooling, Mehmet announced his master plan to me -- that he had to attend a seminar in Harvard Square and would appreciate if I would courier Kaan to daycare. My experience with babies is limited -- i.e. zero, but Kaan and I had become comfortable with each other and I accepted the responsibility of driving Mehmet’s car with the car seat and his child to work.
I received a number of comments from shocked coworkers as I strolled into work to deliver Kaan to daycare! Since then, Mehmet has asked me to do this favor a number of times and I am happy to provide this relief. In a few instances, this arrangement has worked beautifully to my benefit. When a meeting drags past 5 o’clock on a day that I’m performing my surrogate dad duties, I’m can easily excuse myself by announcing “Sorry, I have to leave before daycare closes!”
Since then, our carpooling has adopted some standard protocols. Mehmet makes us sandwiches, which are not served until we reach highway cruising speed. The radio stays tuned to NPR and we engage in debate about critical political topics. But our conversations range from our world travels to analyzing women and relationships, to dissecting the musical stylings of the new Beastie Boys album. We even took our “team approach” to the car dealership when we both purchased 2007 Toyota Priuses to improve our fuel economy.
Mehmet, Kaan and Brian are evidence that adventures of carpooling will enrich your life while also reducing your environmental impact.
Brian
Corporate Controller
New England Biolabs, Inc.
Ipswich
