10 Years Together

I've been meaning to write a post about my husband for a while now. But I think the enormity of the task {where do I even begin?!} has put me off and meant that it's fallen lower down on the blogging priority list.

However this month, Mr MM and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary {I KNOW, I don't look old enough} and I wanted to share something on the blog to mark this special milestone. Over the years, I've come to see The Secret Life of Maggie May as an online diary of sorts; I love looking back at posts I've written over the years {trying not to be too bothered by the appalling photography in some} and reminding myself of the emotions and feelings I was experiencing during important times in my life. Whether they be happy moments like getting engaged or getting married, or low points such as suffering with depression and anxiety, they are all life events which have made me into the person I am today. So how could I possibly avoid writing about the person who has been there through it all?

I'm quite nosy, therefore I love hearing stories about how people met and got to where they are in life. I hope you all do too, because I'm going to start off by telling you how Mr MM and I became a couple!

We first met when I was 16 years old. As some of you may recall, I used to do a lot of singing, and would sing at public events and weddings as a way of making some money. I was fed up of using backing tapes and CDs and was after a pianist to accompany me - which is when someone suggested Mr MM.

During the next 18 months or so, we became good friends, and performed at a lot of different gigs together. Slowly but surely, I realised that I was really falling for him - and luckily, the feeling was mutual! We started seeing each other properly in March 2010, when I was 17 years old. We lived in the same sleepy village in Somerset, so spent a lot of time together - mostly playing music and walking in the beautiful Quantocks.

When I was 18, I moved to Bristol to study at university. Luckily for me, Mr MM had fancied moving to someone a bit busier than Somerset for a while, and after a few months, he followed me to the city. At the beginning of my second year, we moved in together. Our tiny top floor flat was cosy and cluttered {and did I mention how tiny it was?} but it was ours and we loved it.

We spent 4 years there before deciding to head back into the countryside. We'd always loved spending time in the Cotswolds, and agreed that we wanted to live somewhere a bit more rural again. After 2.5 years here, we were sure this was the place for us, and bought our first house.

During those 2.5 years, we also got engaged and got married, and now I'm pregnant with our first baby {still feels surreal saying that!}

Writing it all down feels slightly bizarre - like This is Your Life, but with my husband and I as the starring characters. Over the past decade, we've obviously seen a lot of highs and lows, the good bits and the bad bits, with every single aspect of our personalities and traits laid bare at some point. So what do I love about Mr MM?

He makes me laugh every single day. That's not to say that he's some sort of joker or clown generally, because he's not - in fact, he's rather shy - but he knows exactly what to say to me to put a smile on my face and make me forget the trivial and banal things in everyday life.

I love spending time with him, and if we have time off together or we're off somewhere on holiday, I can't wait for the extra hours we'll have together. I miss him when we're apart, even if it's just for a few hours, which sounds pathetic, I know. It's not that I'm physically pining for him or anything if I pop into town or go to a meeting, but when I see him again I realise that I missed not being with him, and how relieved I am to be together again. I don't know if that makes sense... And hopefully you won't all think I'm a crazy Fatal Attraction kind of character.

I'm proud of him and where's he got to in life. As I said, he's shy and very humble, so will never really talk about himself or his achievements. But I know how hard he has worked and what determination and enthusiasm he has used to reach his goals. I can't think of a better role model for our child.

He's really good at fixing broken things, which when you're as impractical and, um, stupid, as me, is actually really important.

He genuinely makes me the happiest I think I could ever be. I feel like the more time I spend with him, the more I fall in love with him. He knows me better than anyone; knows my ambitions, my fears, my favourite sandwich fillings, the songs most likely to get me on the dancefloor, when I'm in need of a vent and when I just need a hug. He's always there for me, and I feel constantly supported and loved. What more could anyone ever desire from life?

This isn't supposed to be a smug post, and fingers crossed I've avoided being overly soppy or sentimental. As I said at the beginning, I share so many aspects of my life on here that to avoid mentioning the person who has been by my side for all of those seems wrong.  I hope you've all enjoyed learning a bit more about the man behind the mysterious moniker Mr MM, because he's a pretty incredible person, and I love him to bits.