Ten Years

 

 

Ten years ago today my husband asked me to be his girlfriend. And I said yes. Ten years. And what a ten years it's been. Our relationship has seen every adult life choice and event we've both experience, it's seen long distance, it's seen epic holidays, but most of all it's seen love, and friendship, and fun. so to mark our ten years, I thought it would be fun to share our story, year by year.

We were only 17 when we met. It was my first day working at Staples, the stationary store, which was my part time job, and it was Saturday 22nd September 2007. I remember Adam walking in. He played football Saturday mornings so he didn't start until about 1ish whereas I'd been there since 9. He walked past me, he looked at me, I looked back, and that was it for that day. For the next couple of weeks we didn't really talk too much and we were on different shifts and departments. Then one evening I got a text from him - turns out my friend Beth had given his friend Marc (both of who worked there as well) my number, to give to Adam because he thought I was hot. So we started chatting. And then one day in half term (oh yeah, we were that young), we were both working an extra shift and were finishing at the same time and he came over and asked if I wanted a lift home. Keep in mind he had no idea where I lived at that point - and as it turned out he lived in the opposite direction to me, and he ended up stuck in traffic for half an hour getting home once he dropped me off.

 

Then, we started meeting up and seeing each other. However, I had recently broken up with someone so I didn't want to jump into anything again too quickly so when he started asking me to be his girlfriend I kept saying no. We both had our 18th birthdays, and then on 26th November, he asked me again and I said yes.  

 

 

YEAR ONE

(Nov 2007 - Nov 2008)

The beginning is always really sweet. We had both just turned 18 so there was definitely some drinking, and we had to adjust to working together as well as being together. We had both applied for universities already by this point which I think was good so it didn't influence our decision of where to go. Looking back, it was full of little notes to each other, soppy cringy messages on Facebook, meeting friends and family. It was also the year of our first holiday to Rome - where I promptly fainted in the middle of a tour. It was also the start of our long distance time. Adam went to Oxford, I went to Portsmouth. So that was also a major adjustment and super hard.

 

 

YEAR TWO

(Nov 2008 - Nov 2009)

Our first full year of being mostly long distance - which was obviously hard but first year was such a blur for me it wasn't too bad. We saw each other every other weekend so we had a routine, and it worked for us. It was also the year we went on a friends weekend away to Okehampton, which was super fun and the first holiday Adam joined me and my family on. There was also a lot of house parties at our friend Becca's house, which usually ended up with us having a drunken fight because we missed each other. Oh to be young.

 

 

YEAR THREE

(Nov 2009 - Nov 2010)

Second year of uni, and probably the one where we fought the most. Not the best year - not going to lie! But, we made it through and we made the most of the time we spent together. We had our first theme park road trip with some friends, which was awesome, and we also went to Egypt with Adam's brother for an all inclusive trip. Which was hot, and stunning. I also did a couple of work placements based in London which gave me a good idea of what I wanted to do after Uni as well. Then towards the end of our third year, we both turned 21 - woo! Lots of drinking at this point...

 

 

YEAR FOUR

(Nov 2010 - Nov 2011)

Last year of Uni and long distance, which was a bit easier as I had less time in classes to I could spend more time in Oxford and did quite a lot of my dissertation up there while Adam was in classes or working. I think this was the year of our first Friends Christmas meal as well which has been happening most years since then. Adam was officially made part of the family by taking part in our Family Photo shoot and we had our second Theme Park road trip. This was also the year we both graduated and then spent four incredible weeks in Australia as a little graduation present to ourselves. I think this was the first time we'd spent a significant amount of time together, just the two of us. We didn't kill each other so all seemed good!

 

 

YEAR FIVE

(Nov 2011 - Nov 2012)

Second year of friends Christmas meal done! Also, it was the year we both got our first jobs out of university. One went well (Adam's), one not so well and I ended up back in retail to figure out what went wrong. Which also put a dent in our plans to move out and save for our own place at that point. But we both knew it would take a while for us to save to do that anyway. This was also the year I started my blog, we went to Dublin for a really cool mini trip - we both LOVED it - and went to Harry Potter world.

For our five year anniversary we went for an amazing meal at a lovely restaurant called Regina's, and then Adam got me my DSLR (best bf ever) and I got him a 32 inch TV. He was very pleased with me.

 

 

YEAR SIX

(Nov 2012 - Nov 2013)

This was generally quite a quiet year for us. We spent a lot of it saving, and planning what we wanted to do in terms of moving out. Whether or not we wanted to rent, or buy a place. We both wanted to move out of our parents, but we wanted a plan first. We went to Forest of Dean with my family, which was a very chilled trip, and great family time, and according to my FB it was the year Adam got me into Game of Thrones! It was also the year I thought it would be an awesome idea to cut all my hair off. Never again. We also went off to France again with my parents, and my uncle and aunt for a week in a beautiful villa. I was also struggling a bit as I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I didn't want to stay in retail, but any job I wanted was in London and Adam didn't want to move up there so it was a bit weird.

 

 

YEAR SEVEN

(Nov 2013 - Nov 2014)

I was adamant this would be the year we'd move out - and we did! I got a job back in Marketing, which was based in London but we worked out how I'd commute. And after that, we had the salaries and we could get a mortgage. I loved the job, I was in London and it gave us the opportunity to go and see Lee Evans in a box at the O2 so that was incredible. In general it was a great year, we had some awesome memories, including Longleat, and we ended up moving into our new home on October 24th, and then added to our little family on Nov 22nd by getting Fred and George!

 

 

YEAR EIGHT

(Nov 2014 - Nov 2015)

This was our first Christmas, in our first home, which was really special. And we had our little ginger ninjas to make the experience even more special - and chaotic. My advice - never get kittens two weeks before you put up a Christmas tree. We decorated the house to make it our own, and then biggest thing to happen - Adam proposed! We got engaged this year, which was super special and an amazing memory. Adam also got a promotion that year, and I started a new job - closer to home - as well so lots of change on the job front. We did also loose one of our beautiful kittens which was really, really sad, but we still had Fred thankfully. We also went to France with my entire family to celebrate my parents 30th wedding anniversary, which was super special, AND my best friend got engaged as well. All in all - it was a pretty awesome year.

 

 

YEAR NINE

(Nov 2015 - Nov 2016)

I feel like there's only one thing I can say about this year. We got married. Just before our nine year anniversary, on September 9th, we got married. It was the most incredible day, we both say regularly there isn't anything we'd change about it. We had everyone we loved there, everyone had a great time and we loved it. We got quite drunk... but we loved it. It felt like a long time coming, but also - it didn't. We got together when we were 18, we got married when we were 26. We did long distance, which was hard, we went through job hunts, disappointments and promotions, we bought our first hour and added to our family through felines - I think it happened at exactly the right time. Our honeymoon was also incredible - we went to an all inclusive resort in Mexico, where we had our own private pool, complementary couples massage and dinner on the beach. It was perfect.

 

 

YEAR TEN

(Nov 2016 - Nov 2017)

I feel like this has been the most stressful year. A really, really good year - but also super stressful. We agreed after we got married that we wanted to upgrade house-wise and move closer to our families. So in January we put our house on the market and went on the search for our next dream home. Moving house is always stressful, but half way through I got offered a new job - which was an amazing opportunity - so I went for it. Hint - don't start a new job when you're moving house. It's just too stressful. It all worked out well though - we love our house now, and I love my job. Adam also got a promotion at the beginning of the year which was great, and thoroughly deserved. Our friends also got married, which was a very special day, AND we found out we're going to have a nephew from my little brother.

 

It's been a long road... We've had a lot of ups and downs, and the past three years - just looking at this - has held some big, amazing moments in our life together. And I know we only have more amazing memories to make. I'm so grateful that I get to share my life with someone I have so much fun with, someone whose my best friend and my husband. Still feels weird saying that. I don't think in a million years I ever imagined the guy I'd be with when I was 18, would be the guy I'd end up with.

 

So here's to us, here's to ten years together, and here's to the next ten.

 

Much love, Lisa May x