A Night to Remember...

This is the dress I bought this week. It felt like it was waiting for me because it was the last size on the rack and it fitted nicely. This was how our 10th anniversary celebration went...

All along I thought we were booked to have dinner at Wildfire restaurant. That was my suggestion, having heard from a friend that food was good and their website is a real stand out when I checked it out.

But it was Friday and traffic was heavy going to the city . So I volunteered to call the restaurant myself to move the time. But he was quick to stop me from ringing directory assistance. Apparently, the dinner is booked in a different place. Somewhere more exquisite!

And so the secret has been revealed. This is the view from our table at Shangri-la Hotel's Altitude restaurant, 36 levels above the ground where you can see a full view of the harbour while enjoying a 7 course degustation menu. NICE!

Actually, he made more plans but ran out of time looking for the "gift" he had in mind. He even booked a room for the night but thought we wouldn't be able to "maximize" it if we were arriving late at night. So he just cancelled it at the last minute. He made $528 savings just by doing that. Good thinking!!! I'd rather throw that into the "gift's" budget.

And I don't know where he got the idea of taking a chance at asking the Head Chef to pose with us. He kinda made up a story that it has been our tradition to have a photo with the Head Chef everytime we enjoyed the food at a resto. And he prodded the wait staff about three times. Well, we were really enjoying the food and wine. We raved course after course. And I think we will be making this a tradition from now on.. Hahaha!

After that heavy but sumptuous dinner, we took a walk down at The Rocks for some fresh air to rid a few percentages of alchohol content. :) We even walked past Wildfire restaurant :) while we shared strings of laugters.

Loved the view, loved the good food and loved it sharing with my DH. This day has been made special once again by both of us. I know our marriage is not perfect. But it's the willingness to make it perfect, for our children to see and learn from, is what I am proud of. And I am also proud that we are now blessed with a stronger FAITH, that we know we can rest our HOPE at the helm of His grace, and that we are able to give another true LOVE because of these two blessings.

10 years...

I bought a hallmark card in Manila last January. And I am giving it to him today.

It says

"The earth turns.

The sun rises and sets.

We're still in love.

All is right in the world.

Happy anniversary."


There are many things I wanted to say. But imbetween shopping for the right dinner dress and getting my hair done, my heart only managed to type in the following, (Printed on an A4, cut down to the size of the card).

---

We normally do not treat this day as special as our church wedding.

But now I do.

I still remember the same night, ten years ago, when someone called upon me as Mrs. Reyes, three times before I even acknowledged. I didn't "get it" straight away!!! Haha! Forgot that it's not just a paper we needed to submit to the embassy that time. It was (in Luis' favourite expression) "for real life". Truth behold, we legally started as husband and wife on this day.

It never dawned on me what this legal status entails. All I had was a vision of a happy ending. Why, who would have thought, after all the bickering we had in our younger years, after being apart for more than half a year, it would still be us? We both had that faith in us - a FAITH that in these ten years was shaken a few times.

I remember when we went to Europe; when a tour mate, an old American widow commended us on how we two looked so good together. But I choked in silence and made me ponder on her last statement, "I miss my husband... Getting married is easy, staying married is not". If she told me this ten years ago, I would not have understood.

But now I do.

Life is good and through the highs and lows I am thankful that I now understand! With the experiences I had along the way, I can proudly say that I now have in me, what was ideal to have had ten years ago - a RIGHT MIND and a RIGHT HEART in keeping a marriage alive. God is good!

I know you've thanked me enough in the past for being stronger when you couldn't take the lead, for having the patience when you were too weary, and for having the tenacity when things got a bit uncertain. But really in those moments, I have you to thank for! Because you've let me, who was once a young girl who bravely travelled a thousand miles to be with you, shine so brightly in the darkest room where love was almost impossible. You gave me the chance to love you back the way you love me. With you I learned the true meaning of LOVE and I will be forever grateful!

I decided a long time ago that I will love you for the rest of my life and yours. Today, with much happiness I want you to know that I still honour that commitment - forever and always! That even when parts of us make another cringe or fume, I promise not to attack or cocoon in resentment. God has joined us to be together in marriage. And believing this is knowing that all is right in the world. That He'll always guide us right where we're supposed to be - ready to fall in love all over again!

Happy 10th anniversary Babes! And I look forward to making our dreams come true and creating more beautiful memories for our family… together!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Love at First Post

Geeze, we're already halfway through the first quarter of the new year and I haven't posted a single thing since we came back from our holidays in Pinas.

There have been shortcomings from my end and I acknowledge that. Forgive me for being remiss in updating this blog and for being delinquent in responding at all to tags and comments. I repositioned my inner compass when the year began. I was very busy before our holidays that I felt the urge to be with my husband and children every chance I get. TIME is really a demanding word! But it is much of my pleasure when I cherish my treasures in life.

Anyway, as simple as it can get, our Feb 14th was spent by simply exchanging cards. Love is in the air as we shared it over a bottle of red wine and a plate of fish balls (hubby's comfort food), while watching Body of Lies in our theatre room. Hmmm, only the wine complemented the commercialism of Valentine's Day but we found ourselves more than contented to be "celebrating" with the whole world in this way. Cheers!

(I had to make cupcakes on this day and so we skipped doing anything special. After all, we hardly did, even before. To my DH, thank you for bearing the joy and pain of making cupcakes with me... Love you to bits!!!)