one month to one year

there three important questions you asked me

Q1.
it was late evening when we were hanging out by the benches under the tree of our alma mater. i don't remember anymore how the conversation led to you asking me what was happening between us.

you had your knee in a brace then. i remember the tail-end of our five hour conversation on the phone, i wished you 'break a leg' for your basketball game. ooops, wrong idiom. that was for theater. i did not, for the life of me, imagine that it would be taken literally. the next time i saw you again, you had a leg brace because of MCL. oooops, sorry.

you asked me, while our hands held each other, "ano to?" (what is this?) i wanted to be ambiguous, you didn't. i guess we know who won the case that night.

Q2.
it was funny how pinoy big brother got in the way of your moment.

after what i thought was our despedida dinner for you since it was your last day in davao and was already home, you gave me a scrapbook. i was teasing you for being romantic, a rare event and one that i always welcome.

i leafed through each page which i could see was made painstaken care and love. knowing you to be unexpressive, i teased you for putting images of our story in a book. so not you. so me, actually. and such an idiot i am, i really did not know what was coming. and because of that... the tempo broke when an interesting scene was happening on big brother. thank God for commercial breaks. haha.

yes, i am such an idiot. even upon reaching the page when THE question was there, i didn't get it. i read it the first time and snickered and teased you again. 'yiheeee, you love me! you are sooo cute.'

then i went back to the note again. waitaminute. your note said, "angie, mahal na mahal kita. maari ba kitang makasama ng habang buhay?" (angie, i love you very much. may i spend forever with you?).

people who knew about it actually bet i would cry, being such a cry baby. guess what, i laughed. laughed long and loud. not at you, but at myself. for being caught by surprise. for you actually pulling off a surprise! for me not getting it the moment i got the scrapbook. i laughed and forgot to say yes. we did resolve that at some point. :)


Q3.
well, it wasn't really you who asked me, but the priest. and he asked you the same thing. it seemed we kinda agreed on an answer.

the answer which decided our forevers was a leap of faith.

i believe.

<---------0-------->

i am fervently hoping we spend it together. yes, we can. :)

litratong pinoy: paboriting alahas

hindi ako mahilig mag-alahas. ayaw kong nagsusuot ng tunay, marahil dahil commuter ako. bukod sa masaya na akong magsuot ng fancy na mabibili ng 3 for P100. at least hindi masakit sa loob kung mawala. na madalas mangyari sa aking mga alahas.

ngunit ngayon, meron na akong suot-suot palagi -- ang aking engagement ring at wedding ring. :)

ang larawan sa baba ay ang engagement ring na pina-custom made ng asawa ko para sa proposal niya sa akin. peridot ang bato, na birth stone ko pala. di ko man lang malalaman kung di dahil sa regalo niyang singsing.

kahit na hindi ako mahilig sa alahas, palagi ko nang suot suot ito kasama ng wedding ring ko. lalo na ngayon na malayo kami sa isa't-isa ng panandalian, isang alaala na merong naghihintay sa aking pag-uwi.

rick meets dick

our original wedding reception plan was this: the moment jan and i enter greenmeadows clubhouse, cue "together forever" of rick astley. we walk to the table and do a little attempt of dancing mala-"tonight with dick and carmi" minus carmi's tanga and dick's performance level.

i really, really wanted to do that. but since we were pressed for time and had no chance to coordinate with the mobile or even prepare a cd to play, we just had to do with whatever stock music they have. bummer. no one really noticed, except us and some friends in the plan.

but hah... this was not originally idea. it actually started with jan. see, di lang ako ang jologs sa relasyon na to!

roderick paulete performing rick astley is simply a philippine entertainment classic. after all these years, i can remember the steps he did to "together forever" and "never gonna give you up."

when i heard that rick astely was going to perform in manila, and on my birthday too... bummer! i would have watched him if i were there. but finding out that kuya dick performed with rick... i felt like i missed half my life!

thank God, gabe mercado captured the moment for the whole Philippine nation. nothing can be as cool as that in Philippine entertainment. ever.

i heart you rick. i heart you dick.

and here are the lyrics of what could've been our entrance to the reception. :)

TOGETHER FOREVER
Rick Astley

If there's anything you need
All you have to do is say
You know you satisfy everything in me
We shouldn't waste a single day

So don't stop me falling
It's destiny calling
A power I just can't deny
It's never changing
Can't you hear me, I'm saying
I want you for the rest of my life

chorus:
Together forever and never to part
Together forever we two
And don't you know
I would move heaven and earth
To be together forever with you

If they ever get you down
There's always something I can do
Because I wouldn't ever wanna see you frown
I'll always do what's best for you

There ain't no mistaking
It's true love we're making
Something to last for all time
It's never changing
Can't you hear me, I'm saying
I want you for the rest of my life

Chorus

So don't stop me falling
It's destiny calling
A power I just can't deny
It's never changing
Can't you hear me, I'm saying
I want you for the rest of my life

Chorus 3x

the (figurative) path to puerto princesa

This was my list of top 5 places in the Philippines that I wanted to visit around five years back:
1. Batanes
2. Palawan
3. Siquijor
4. Siargao
5. Tawi-Tawi

In the last five years, I have only been able to scratch off Tawi-Tawi and Siquijor. Nonetheless, my travel buds and I have visited other interesting provinces and cities of our beautiful country. To name a few, we hit Camiguin, Bantayan and Malapascua Island in Cebu, Carabao Island of Romblon, Surigao City, Bulalacao of Mindoro and a few more others.

Back to the time when Jan and I were not engaged yet but were informally discussing things should we get wed, I told him I'd rather splurge on the honeymoon than on the wedding. The good girl that I am, I think we deserve it. Besides, I enjoy travel more than parties any day.

I thought the honeymoon was a good opportunity for me (because Jan has given me freehand with decisions related to this) to finally go back to my list. Siargao was scratched off given that we will be setting up a community school in Surigao City, so it will be more accessible for regular trips. So it was a toss-up between Palawan and Batanes.

Batanes was actually winning my heart but Jan, being a guy, had a very practical point. June is the start of the rainy season. Good point. And a wisdom that benefitted us with an actual storm actually coinciding with our honeyhoon. Hehe.

So it was decided. Palawan it was going to be. But Palawan itself has so much to offer. We could go to Coron-Busuanga, El Nido or Puerto Princesa City. My inclination was going to Coron, but then I figured, I want to find out if the Underground River was worth being nominated for the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. So Puerto Princesa it was.

With all the stress for the wedding preparations, I was not able to pay full attention to it as much as I wanted to. Even getting tickets became stressful given the gas increase. In a span of three weeks while I was doing research, tickets rose from P8000++ round trip to P11000++ round trip (both of us)! I had to ask help from Ninin and Jerry (who in turn asked help from Tatit and Crissy) with the itinerary.

My initial idea was to spend the night at Puerto Princesa, then proceed to Sabang for two days, then spend another two days in Port Barton, then go back to Puerto Princesa to do the tours. I also did research on places to stay in each place. Based on that, Jerry and Ninin were able to come up with a superb itinerary, inclusive of contact numbers, transportation schedules and fare costs. Asteeeeeg! Galing, guys! :)

What was more beautiful about the honeymoon was, our ticket to Puerto Princesa was a gift from our travel buddies. It was so apt and so symbolic to have them do this for us, being our constant companions in trans-regional kalokohan. I was so deeply touched by the gesture.

So to our dearest Mike and Ina, Jerry, Ninin, Sherwin and Myra, Mon and Dinah, Shiva, Rhia, Kang, Meh-Anne, Camille and Tatit, thank you for bringing Jan and I to Palawan and for blessing us with a very interesting beginning to our life together. ;P

yes. i do.

some side kuwento first.

while jan and i were checking our e-mail in puerto princesa, i decided to drop by facebook. since we had some extra time left, i thought of updating my profile. i thought to myself, how many people would actually come over to my page and view it? and then, agh! it registered as a notification! whaaaduh? i didn't know facebook did that. and i didn't think people read their notifications either, because i don't. eng. they do pala.

so i had some friends call or text or send me messages of congratulations and best wishes, which i really did not mind, except i was a little embarrassed for advertising myself that way. that was such a boo-boo! LOL.

anyway.... yes, i did get hitched. we even have a blog for our friends and relatives far away, so they can keep track of the activities going on. we might be keeping it for a while. jan seems to have a lot to say after bombing his speech. :p and it would be interesting to keep track the early stages of our marriage.

back when i was younger, i hardly imagined getting married. i mean, the only thing i can really picture was being in front of the altar with someone. so it was a little bit of a stress for me and jan to do a major production number like a wedding. i mean, if it were helping out for a friend, we were probably able to do more.

i was also pretty busy during the last six months that i was only really able to pay attention to the wedding three weeks leading to the wedding. jan was more hands-on than i was. he got the caterer, gave instructions on what the set-up would look like, what food will be served and all that. most of the stuff i did was my dress, my make-up, the flowers and asking help from friends (mimo to officiate, earthen vessel to sing, etc.).

the stress was really building up for both of us. plus i had other things to deal with other than the wedding, like family matters and work. so i vowed that the day before the wedding, i will try to do things but not push it. and by the day of the wedding, i will just make sure that the priest, jan, me, God and a couple of witnesses are there and that is what should matter.

on the wedding eve, i wrote my speech. it was the only time i can thank the many people who have made the wedding possible through their generosity and kindness and support. the wedding may not have been perfect, but it sure made me realized how loved we were. that i need not wait for my funeral to feel the love of my friends and family. ang galeng talaga.

if just to make our lives a whole lot easier, i would have just dragged jan and our family to a small secret wedding. then go, ta-daaa! we're married na. not much fuss, more practical and no less lovely.

but then, jan and i would discuss that idea every so often, i would end up going... sayang ang kasiyahan na maibabahagi natin sa iba at nila sa atin. walang tutol sa atin. everybody is excited to see us together. why deny them the joy? why deny ourselves that happiness?

the wedding may not have gone the way jan or i wanted it. but it so full of blessings that we can't ask for anything more. of course, we do replay a lot of things on our minds. stuff that we should've done. stuff we needn't do. how it would have been better. but then, our friends enjoyed it. they felt warm and fuzzy and tingly... and that was what i wanted. and so, in it's imperfection, our wedding was perfect. :)

and here is my message to the well-wishers of that day. i added some ad lib on the day, but this is the main gist.

Thank you very, very much for coming to the celebration of our togetherness. With all sincerity, it is an honor to have all of you here today.

This is a wedding about love and friendship. But not just between Jan and I, but those of our friends and family as well. This wedding celebration became possible through the contribution of time, talent, resources and ideas of many, many people. The kindness and generosity we have received has been overwhelming. Our love for each other has been fortified by the love of others for us and our love for others. We have been blessed by wonderful friendships. It truly is a beautiful way to send us off to our new life together. Thank you for the good vibes and the good wishes. If we can’t be able to return it to you, we hope to pay it forward. May God bless you tenfold.

I have with here with me right now, a man who has never faltered in showing his love for me. I do have to coax him to give me flowers or take me to a date. But he has shown his devotion in more constant, more moving ways. Braving the traffic to pick me up from the airport, since he knows how much I hate the struggle for taxi. Driving me home at night as I sleep at the passenger seat. And most of all, leaving his comfort zone for many months to see how my world in Davao is like. Constant things that can sometimes be taken for granted and major things that would be hard to ignore. That is how he has shown his love. Not to mention, he has been given good character references way back to grade school. :P

Today, I said yes to this man. He, who is both my sanity and insanity. Yes. I do. Such simple words, yet such big ones too. This yes, said today, but lived everyday. Yes to the good things, and yes to the not so good things. I do. I do to everyday little things. I do to the nice and not so nice realities. And it’s not like choosing a school or a course that you can shift from if you don’t like it. It’s not like getting a job or working as volunteer, that if the time comes you get tired or you feel it’s not for you, you can quit. This is a yes to a lifetime commitment. Yes to the highs and lows, to the successes and failures, to the trivial and to the essential. So I trust this commitment to God to help us live our life together by and by. And work towards the point that Amb. Dee and Mrs. Dee has achieved, both our parents have achieved, 30-40-50 years of togetherness… to that point that we are old and gray, still holding hands and hearts. Forgetting where we are supposed to go, but going on anyway because we are with each other. Still loving the other as we do to this day.

To everyone, again, thank you. Your well-wishes shall sustain us for the years to come. As you go home, I hope more than the flowers or the dress or the food, you remember that it is a day when love triumphs. It is a day when two people who found each other entrust their love to God. That despite the many evil things happening in the world, there are also the beautiful things to be celebrated.