Saturday was Missy’s 11th birthday and the day had a very nostalgic feel to it.

Birthdays are always nostalgic though aren’t they? Especially when it’s your kid’s birthday. This birthday was filled with lots of “Blimey, 11 years old! Where has that time gone?”

Lots of thoughts too about how young The Mr and I were when she was born… I was 23 and he was 25 and how our lives have changed since then.

Daft nostalgia too like realising that we bought our dining table and chairs, and the lamp in the front room whilst I was pregnant with Missy…hmmmm may have to think about modernising!

But this birthday has been especially nostalgic because of a particular gift that Missy asked for. This book, which I bought from a little shop in Barnstaple called Bazaar

The book is a journal for me to complete and give to Missy. The front page has room for a letter and then each page after that asks a question and leaves room for you to complete your answer.

I filled in a few of the pages to start off the book, and intend to complete the rest of the pages periodically so that every now and then she has something new to read and learn about me.

I decided to use the aBeautifulMess app for my answers, not wanting to write directly onto the pages in case I made a mistake.

Here are a few of the entries I made this time round.

What are your earliest memories?

What do you think your parents thought of you as a child?

What do you remember about the places you lived when you were a child?

There is space on each page for pictures too, so I’ll be adding the few that I have from when I was younger.

I’ve really enjoyed filling in the book so far. I remember a lot more than I thought I did and on her birthday Missy was able to share these memories with my brother, sister and mum when they called. It was great to hear their versions of events too!

There are lots more questions…questions about the music I liked when I was younger. How I met The Mr and what my hopes are for Missy in the future. I think I’ll revisit questions like that one over time to see if my answers change.

What would your answers be to these questions?