A Box of My Life (Up to 2011)

I started this blog as a memory book for my boys, and in a vain hope that if it got buried for 200 years someone might find it and think 'How lovely life was back then.'  As I have said on numerous occasions it, for me, has become so much more than that. 

It has become important to me to post on a regular occasion, sometimes it makes me feel empowered, that I am doing something that is completely my own, sometimes it makes me feel proud if I think something reads particularly well or if I feel I have articulated what I wanted to say, sometimes it makes me feel more organised if my mind has been particularly muddled with thoughts and / or issues, sometimes it helps me vent my emotions.

By the time I stop writing this blog, which I hope won't be for a long time yet, it will be quite lengthy.  So I started to think about my life 'In a Nutshell'.  I was thinking about what things / memories I would put in a box to encapsulate my life accurately up to and including 2011. 

This got me thinking about an exercise that my Year 9 English teacher asked us to complete.  He asked us to write down all the roles you play in life and to think about how important you believe each one of those roles to be to you and in the life of others.  Of course back then it was, Daughter, Sister, Niece, Cousin, Student, Friend etc.  My 'Life in a Box' would have been somewhat different then, it would have been full of 'I hope', 'I wish', 'I intend' and about moulding my future, studies and career.  I don't think I was even thinking about personal / love life.

Now I am in my 30's I feel as though that needs revisiting, so here are the things I would choose to put in a box so if someone did find it in 200 years they would get a sense of my life and who I am at this point, in my life, at 30. 

It would be lovely for people to join in with me on this, so please share what your 'Life in a Box' would be (max 10 items).  Say what item you would put in and what you feel it would say about your life.  Here goes mine :

1. My Birth Certificate (who I am)
2. My GCSE and A-Level Certificates (Educated well)
3. A family photo from my first Florida holiday with my parents in 1994 (Happy Childhood)
4. Photograph of me and my friends (Good friendships)
5. Sex in the City Box Set (My inspiration and encouragement to dress fab and go for that career and for love)
6. Letter of Offer of Employment from my London 'Head of Department' job (Made it to Management in my career and worked in 'The City') 
7. J1's Birth Certificate (My baby, My family)
8. J2's Birth Certificate (My baby, My family)
9. Marriage Certificate (My happy and amazing committment for my hubby and I)
10. Photograph of my hubby and I on our Wedding Day (Happiness and Love)

Maybe I should schedule to do this again in 10 years, and be allowed to enter a further 5 items that captures those 10 years.  One final thing, some people may be surprised to see that something 'Tiffany' wasn't in here as I (as am most girls I think...) am in love with Tiffany and am proud that I have spent at least 2 days of my life wondering around dreaming in the Fifth Avenue NY store (over four separate visits to The Big Apple).  Well, my box holding all of these things would be this :