Currently Needing Advice -No Engagement after 10 Years
First off, just wanted to apologize for the long post! But I really need some unbiased opinions on all of this.
I (29F) and my bf (30M) have been together for 10 years. We have been living together for 4 in my parent's house in order to save money on rent (we live in a very expensive area) while I finished out my Masters degree. All of my friends are currently engaged and many of his are now too. We've been to countless friend's weddings, engagement parties etc., together and the conversation never goes back to what our marriage/wedding/future would be like which started to concern me a bit.
Being surrounded by it all, I seriously brought up our relationship 5 months ago and told him that I needed more conversation about our future. That I needed him to start thinking about it, or I was going to be out within the year. I really hated giving an ultimatum, but I knew that I had to do something in order to get this conversation moving. I laid out my timeline and we had a decent convo. Nothing was set in stone, but it was nice to finally lay it all out.
Holidays go by great, everything is really wonderful, but there's still no future conversation or anything like that. My friends are starting to ask if I think an engagement is coming and I just keep playing it off and thinking that it's the holidays so we're just too busy to think about that right now. We go on a nice vacation in the new year and I think that maybe it's a possibility, but nothing and still no conversation or even casual mention of anything regarding our future.
So this past week, with our anniversary coming up, I decide that we need to have another serious conversation. I sit him down and say that I'm frustrated that he hasn't brought anything up and that I don't think that he is even thinking about our future together. He says he has, but he also has a lot that he wants to have "figured out" before we take a step like that. He mentions that he doesn't think my job is the best and that I need to have a better career, that it's scary to think about making such a big step like that, he doesn't understand my timeline and how I'm going to save up enough money in my career before wanting to take some years off to be a stay at home mom to raise our children. He didn't remember that I said in the fall I would be gone within the year and feels blindsided that I even brought up this conversation after our nice vacation together.
I'm obviously devastated but tell him that if an engagement isn't within his timeline, then that's okay. I just kinda need to know. He says he does love me and wants to get married but doesn't really think about it all the time and that no guys do.
So we take a little break in the conversation and decided to continue it the next night. He starts it off by saying that he does love me, that I am his girl, and he doesn't understand how I could think that he doesn't want to be with me. He says he does want to marry me, but has some hesitations. He starts bringing up my job again and then how he feels like we don't share enough hobbies or have enough interests. At this point I'm so confused. We've been together for 10 years, we have numerous things that we both enjoy doing together. He brings up a couple of niche hobbies he has that I don't always participate in (I support and have done them before, just not an every day things) and that he wants a partner who is going to do those things. I'm feeling nervous about our entire relationship now and I tell him that "what concerns me is that I have no hesitations about you, but you have so many hesitations about me."
I decided to end the conversation right there and let him know that I needed a couple of days to think about everything. I've talked to a bunch of my girlfriends but need more advice.
Am I wasting my time? He really is an incredible person. He's sweet, kind, gets along with my family. We have similar values, etc. We've been together for 10 years and it feels so upsetting to just leave something and someone that has been there and loved me through my entire 20s. I just don't understand why he doesn't want to take that next step. I want someone who is absolutely stoked to marry me and can't wait to lock it down. Someone who is so looking forward to a future and having a wife and children. Is this too much to ask? I'm super upset that it has even has to come to this and to be honest, I'm scared about how I'll feel if I decide to move on.
EDIT/UPDATE: Wow! I truly didn't think that my post would receive so many comments. THANK YOU all for your advice (the truthful, kind, straightforward, and brutal). I am so grateful that so many of you from all walks of life decided to take the time out of your days to respond. I have read and will continue to read each comment today and hopefully respond to most of you. I took some notes of some questions that people had just so I could add a bit more context:
-I paid for my Master's myself with my current job. No student loans for me for graduate or my undergrad! -We live in the United States, so unfortunately maternity leave/childcare is a bigger concern considering the lack of paid leave that we have here. -Yes, we absolutely would move out of my parent's house if we got married, had children, etc. He had mentioned wanting to move together out about a year ago, but I told him that I wanted to be engaged before getting our own place since we had already been living together for a while. Maybe that was dumb of me, but it was something that I wanted moving forward. -He does work full time, help out around the house, and pay for a lot of things when we go out. Which is why I think we both have been very comfortable in our relationship. We're playing house, but now I want more and these silly reasons on his end are coming up.
It is definitely scary to think about not being with someone after they have been with you through it all for 10 years. Suffering from a bit of anxiety, I always worry how I will feel in a big step like this. It is a tough situation because I already see him as my husband, but I have to come to the reality that he is not my husband and he has not seen me as his wife.
We have taken a couple of days a part and haven't really spoken. We have a big conversation planned for tonight so I will update again. Once again, thank you for your advice!