What a difference a decade makes

I had to renew my driving licence the other day. I got the letter in the post a few days after having Peyton, shoved it in my handbag and tried not to forget about it.

The letter stated my licence needed renewing as I had held it for 10 years (TEN YEARS?!) I couldn't believe. I remember it like it was yesterday applying for my provisional and getting it through the post a couple of months before my 17th birthday.

I'd just finished school and was about to start college.

Here's a selfie from 2008 - proper MySpace!

Note my Beanie Baby in the corner...cute!

As I stood in the Post Office renewing it (I know I could've done it online, before anyone jumps in, but I couldn't remember my login details.) I thought about how much had happened in those 10 years. College, university, graduation, starting my career as a journalist, buying a house, getting engaged, getting married, having a baby... I also thought about how much will have happened by the time I renew next time.

Peyton will be 10 -at this moment in time it seems absolutely ludicrous to imagine having a 10-year-old daughter - and will probably be relishing in all those pre-teen hormones that will either make us best friends or her hate me. She may also have a brother or sister - maybe more than one. But let's not count our chickens before they've hatched just yet, ey.

We'll probably have moved house, too, and definitely will have changed our cars again. Will we have more pets? Ask Tom, he'll say we'll never get a dog, but he may be persuaded.

I've glossed over the biggest shocker, though. I will be 36, almost 37, and Tom will be 37. Late thirties, holy hell.

It literally feels like five minutes since I was 16. I remember, like it was yesterday, finishing school, going to prom, getting my GCSE results, starting college, going on my first night out...

A photo from said night out. Facebook has just informed me it was September 26, 2008.

FYI, my first night out was in Goole and I wasn't quite 17. I remember thinking my hangover the next morning was the worst thing ever. LOL at little young, naive me. I remember sitting in my dad's car after he picked me up from my friend's the next morning drinking fizzy Lucozade and eating a Mars Bar while my head felt a bit fuzzy and I was tired from little sleep. Oh to have "hangovers" like that again!

10 years ago was also when Tom and I met at college.

This picture isn't quite 10 years old, but near enough!

It's amazing to reflect on all of the things that have happened in the last decade. Hell, at the moment it's crazy enough looking at everything that's happened in the last 12 months.

Part of me wishes I'd started this blog years before I did, so I could relive some of my thoughts and feelings from college and early uni days. Even now when I look bucket some of my earlier blog posts it makes me smile (and sometimes cringe) at what I used to write about. Reading them back, I can so clearly remember my mood and the place I was at in my life when I wrote each post. I love how the topics I write about have evolved as things in my life have changed.

My blog has always been like a diary for me - or just really cheap therapy - and often the big things happening in my life are the things I write about most. Right now, it's baby-related. Of course, when I was 21 and graduating university I had no reason to write a blog about breastfeeding! Other things I've covered in recent years have included Slimming World, wedding planning, pregnancy...

I've never had a specific genre for my blog. By that I mean it's not a place solely for fashion/beauty/make-up tips (I know sweet FA about any of those things so definitely wouldn't be able to string enough sentences together to create regular blog content!)

In 10 years time I can't wait to read back on all these posts I am writing at the moment and remember everything that's happening in my life now. The things that, at the time of writing, seemed to significant and important but, in reality, will be long forgotten in a decade's time.

The queue in the Post Office was really long, incase you didn't guess.

Also, on a side note, getting a new driving licence means my photo no longer looks like I have a floating head. Yes, 16-year-old me went to the Post Office to apply for my first licence and get my photos taken in a cream turtle neck top. This, against the creamy/white background in the booth and the black and white effect on the photo, made me look like a floating head on my licence. It was always a source of a joke from someone when I showed them my ID.