Two years doesn't seem like a lot of time and it has gone so quickly, but we've been through a lot during that time. While it may not be the longest marriage in the world - not yet at least - we've fought to stay together through many trials and tribulations, and I think that is definitely worth raising a glass to.
After the worst first date ever - a missed train, too much booze, 80s fancy dress, dead phone batteries and crossed wires - we soon hit it off and it didn't take long for us both to realise that things were getting a lot more serious than we'd intended. Just under a year later, we moved in together, I had started my masters and the husband was back to working full time.
While we were living in Cornwall, the husband got made redundant twice, I had to work two jobs to support us both, my Grandad Frank passed away and I had a depression relapse that left me very ill while trying to finish my masters degree. There were good times too, but we had to deal with a lot of difficult things too within just a couple of years. In fact, there were a fair few times I thought we weren't going to make it, but we stuck with it, talked things out and really worked to get things back to being good.
It was only a few months after we'd moved to Leeds that I proposed to him. I'd threatened to get down on one knee previously, but he told me he wanted to do it - he's a typical Cornishman and does things dreckly so I wasn't going to hold my breath. It took him spending the money he was given for his birthday - at this point he wasn't working - on giving me a good night out and hunting down a proper red velvet cupcake so he could sing happy birthday to me to make me realise that I didn't want to wait any more, so without thinking I asked the question.
He ultimately proposed to me a few months after that and with a gorgeous ring. In fact, he popped the question on what would become our wedding day the following year and the day after we picked our wedding venue.
Honestly, our wedding day was the happiest day of my life and it made me realise how lucky I am to have fallen in love with my best friend. We then got to go abroad together for the first time - considering we'd been together for five years at this point, we both needed a proper holiday! Two weeks in Tunisia was the best and was totally needed after the stress of the wedding, plus it made me promise to take him abroad once a year every year - I've stuck to this so far.
Since we've been married, life has been crazy busy. I struggled to cope with my Grandad Ron's death straight after the wedding. He passed just before it - our wedding day would also have been his 90th birthday - and I didn't deal with it properly when I had so much to do, so coming home meant that it all hit me, which was also hard for the husband.
On a happier note, we also had other weddings to go to, including both of my brothers' - yes, my poor parents have had a wedding a year for the last three years. The husband also got promoted and has moved to several different stores, which has been both good and bad. We've gone on holidays, met new people and said goodbye to some old friends, all of which seems to have worked out okay.
Our biggest challenges have happened this year, starting with me being so ill in March I had to take a small break from work. I finally admitted that my depression and anxiety had gotten too much for me to cope with on my own and to try and hide from other people so needed to get some help. The husband found the run-up to this and the period I was off work quite hard as I was so closed off and shut him out a lot. At the end of this, we'd worked through a lot and things were getting better, including my mental health.
I'm hoping that the next year will be calmer after having to deal with so much in the last two years - not to mention the five years before that! Even though we've been through a lot, it has helped us to become stronger together and shrug off anything bad that comes our way. No matter what, I'm looking forward to reaching the next anniversary and having another reason to celebrate with my awesome husband.