My colleague got so intrigued of the years I have known my husband.
I told him --It seemed forever but Yes, I knew him since
KINDERGARTEN.
But he rephrased and asked, how long have you been together? I sat there and got confused. For we were not in continuous state , our relationship never was. So, i finally got what he meant. Recalling it was painful but funny at the same time . Ours, was not straightforward, it was an adventure.
So, let me tell you a short story ( forgive me if It would take some time to read this though, it is hard to organize my thoughts) Besides, one of these days, my children will start reading this and I want them to know our
LOVE STORY.
So, Chuck and I - the rumors are true, we first met at Kindergarten and fell in love. Oppsss. I remembered vividly how I first met him. It was the local Sinulog Festival ( 1984?) of our parish and he was the Sto. Nino, I was one of the girls showering him flowers. I can't believe how vivid that was. I remembered the exact dress I wore that day, it was a green gown , a bit ruffled with satin trimmings. I carried a basketful of petals. My hair is short,make up on and I remembered him.
The second clear mem'ry of him was in Elementary, This time, he had a big crush on me, waaah. Oh yeah, he made sure I noticed him. Events that convenes our schools are extra exciting. This feeling recurs each Sunday as he serves as an altar boy at church. He such a charmer but still, I won't have the courage to flirt nor to put across any feeling I have for him. My PRIDE is up there! Yes, I was always on guard.
And comes Secondary. Must be the mem'ries that I am most fond of with the hormonal changes, school dramas and heaps of things! I love highschool LIFE to say the least. I thought this is the time of my life that I was madly , crazily in love with the LOVE idea, too immature to even differentiate what is real and dreamy. I am mostly in dreamy state. So, I had crushes, but what was more exciting about highschool is more than that- I had admirers! And I enjoyed that very much! Had a couple of relationships and flings every now and then but with myChuck, we tried sorting out our feelings between friends or Lover. We really were good friends and would have wanted to maintained that, however some crazy immature decisions were made on the night of our Gaduation, took the plunge. It was
March 24,1994. wohooo 21 years ago.
And the huge changes came. We were not prepared for this, nor our relationship. We were two different people wanting to fit in the College Life. Our relationship drowned with it. And then, I started a very crazy, romantic affair with someone whom I thought was the LOVE of my LIFE. It lasted for some 3 crazy years in multitude of emotions and state. I was soo young then. I was swept off, madly in love and had ' who cares' attitude. Where's myChuck in all these?- he was just right there, going for the same uni but we seldom see each other in the campus. There few moments where he snaps and asks me how I was--and Oh God, i remembered how I felt those days. It feels like a pang of PAIN. I was in a relationship and I know he wanted me so much but he doesn't fight , will not fight for how he feels for me. He meets new people and falls in love as well. So, for 4 years, we kept paths away from each other, not until
24th March 1998 came. SO, you are right. Exactly 4 years from 1994. The universe conspired and made it happen. The paths we've been avoiding made it's way upon us, it is almost eerie to recall but it happened.
Awkward, yes it was in the beginning. But it feels like two old souls picking up where they have left off. That day, we decided to believe in MAGIC. Oh yeah, that song from David Pomeranz is very relevant to us.
But our story didn't end there. We got separated again in very diplomatic way this time and we're back again on the 9th of May 1999. And this time, I had not choice but to stick with him for he is not allowing separation to be an option anymore. We cried until our only option was to work out our differences, our prides and our circumstances. We've been to heaps and mountains of issues together and each time we are in the brink of breaking down, we go back to that magical date and we knew--we were meant to be with each other. And that separation will never be an option.
So, we got married on the 21st of December 2003. And we were living separate lives literally in between the 1999 to 2003, but we've held on. And I am very proud of what we went through! Looking back, I see what an amazing journey it has been.
Then our life together in
Manila. His life alone overseas. Our life together in
Singapore. And eventually
Sydney!
Our days together has always been a roller coaster ride and I enjoyed it so much!
This year marks our 12th year wedding Anniversary. The numbers of years doesn't count much now. Loving each other in this lifetime is what matters.
.