No monkeys yet I’m afraid. I’ve got both the kids off school today with sore throats and raging temperatures – it’ll be a day of calpol, dvds and lolling in PJs. As I lay listening to them breathing last night (it was a 3-in-the-bed night) I began to wonder what my life would have been like if I’d followed my childhood dream and become a vet. Would I be roaming the Yorkshire Dales in my mud-splattered landrover, overseeing the birth of calves and the worming of sheep, a kind of female James Herriot? Would I have a sturdy, farmer husband with a check shirt and big weathered-but-gentle hands and 2 ruddy-faced kids with lambs for pets? I’ve always enjoyed the company of animals, adopting stray cats and puppies along the way, rescuing injured hedgehogs and birds (the picture is of Berry the Blackbird who we adopted and cared for this summer). But if I had gone down the path to becoming a vet I’d have never met my husband and soul mate or had these wonderful children.

Instead of Veterinary college I headed off to Art college where H & I met aged 18. I’d just left home, got a bedsit with my best friend Lynelle and embarked on my adult life. H tells me he fell in love with me at first sight (flattery does get him everywhere!) and by the end of the first month we were going out together. We didn’t realise at the time that it would grow into the love of a lifetime and that 15 years later, on the anniversary of our first date together, I’d be giving birth to our daughter.

I’m so glad that I didn’t become a vet. It’s interesting when you stop to think about how you came to where you are in life. Which decisions and choices set your feet on the path to arrive here and now. So here’s a thought for the weekend – What would you be doing now if you’d followed your childhood dream? What’s your story?

Isn’t it funny that when we have kids we loose our identity? To many people out there I am ‘Amy’s mum’ – that’s my name as far as they’re concerned. I don’t mind, I’ll answer to just about anything these days. It does make you think though about the monumental change occurs when you become a parent.

Back in the days when my name was Julie I had a job. I woke up with the alarm clock, showered, ate breakfast sitting at the table, dressed in freshly ironed and co-ordinated clothes, and went into London to work. At work I was a marketing manager of an international company, responsible for all ad campaigns, promotional literature and press liaison. I controlled large budgets in 7 different currencies, flew round the world on business, headed conferences and generally behaved as a professional business woman (when I wasn’t too sloshed from having one too many glasses of wine at a business lunch!).

Today things are a little different. I wake up when one of my children jumps on me, stick my head under the tap if my hair needs a wash, eat a bit of toast with a cooling cup of tea whilst wandering round the house packing school bags, throw on any clothing (I draw the line at mixing lime green with magenta but otherwise anything goes) and rush out of the door with Amy in tow for a quick march to school. My day consists of washing clothes, knitting, tidying up toys, knitting, hoovering, making gluten-free bread, knitting, a bit of blogging and more knitting.

And yet I couldn’t be happier. I wouldn’t swap back to how things were for all the wine in Italy. Blogging has been especially rewarding and it makes my day to log on and see that someone has left me a comment. Thanks so much everyone for your compliments about my work – it means a great deal. Love Amy’s mum xxx

PS. I am not bald – although I look it in Amy’s picture above – I must have been having a bad hair day!!