I’ve been writing in one form or another for what seems like forever. For pleasure and as part of my job. The joy of the written word has always resonated strongly within me, fostered and encouraged by my beautiful mother, a voracious reader like myself. Fellow readers will understand and appreciate our devotion to the theory that the best kind of insulation you can ever have in your house is a bookcase stacked with books!

But being a typical Pisces girl, I also spend a lot of time in my head thinking and daydreaming. Not to the point of forgetting what I’m doing but let’s just say it’s probably rather fortunate I can multi-task like a boss! Turning over a few hundred different ideas in my head while I’m doing something else happens quite often.

I used to write little short stories in primary school, graduating to filling red and green covered diaries with my thoughts and girlish fancies all the way through high school. Oh, the angst of those teenage times! Writing took a backseat for a brief period post leaving school. I was consumed with the serious business of applying myself to the pursuit of being young and free and enjoying my independence, along with the responsibilities of my first job. But the words wouldn’t be denied and after my first son was born, I began to write again when he slept, emptying my mind and filling page after page of spiral bound exercise books.

I wrote about my hopes and dreams, my worries and my fears; the constant conflict every new mother has about whether she will be enough, combined with the physical and mental impact a baby undoubtedly brings to your life. I drained the ink of countless pens whilst writing it all down the old school way, in long hand. Looking back, the fact I had an outlet to evaluate what I was feeling and put it onto paper helped me immensely, especially during those early years coping with life as a new mother. At the time I don’t think I realised how much it really did. I certainly do now, though.

Thinking about writing was the prompt for today’s Music for Monday choice and to be honest, there are thousands of songs whose lyrics speak to me, it just depends on my mood! However I was reminded of this little gem today and after listening to it again, I remembered why I love it so much.

This song about daughters is beautiful for so many reasons; not least of which is the reminder that a father and a mother set the example for all little girls to look up to and how special that relationship truly is.

Happy Monday, peeps.