Couple's Corner #5: The Day We said I DO!

It's Wednesday once again, time for my most awaited meme hosted by Liza of This Is My Life. And here is my entry for this week's theme "The Day We Said I Do."

Can you believe it? I knew we will be married, and that is why I came to United Sates, but no idea yet when the exact date will be! Well, it was because we (Matt and I) haven't talked about it yet. So when my cousin and her husband and of course Matt picked me up at the airport (LAX), we immediately head into my cousin's house, talked while eating dinner. Though we were both exhausted from our flights, we still managed to talk a little bit about our day before finally went to bed in our respective room. The next day, he surprised me when he told me the exact date of our wedding! I was thrilled of course! I arrived on the 8th of Sept. 2001 and our wedding date was set two weeks after that. Yup, that fast; that is how he was back then; he didn't waste time!

Two days after that surprised, a shocking news 9/11 happened. The whole world were saddened and mourned for the great lost of loved ones. Flights were canceled and I think they also closed the airport. So, we ended waiting for a week before we finally had our flight home to Texas and that means, we need to prepare ourselves. In addition, we still need to buy our wedding ring/band and head home to New Mexico to get married. Since we both have no savings, that is all we can afford that time and that was fine with me, since I am a simple and low maintenance person. All I want is a simple wedding anyway. His parents were kind enough to buy me a wedding gown, arranged the reception and the prepare all the foods (finger foods, sparkling wine and cake), wedding announcement, photographer and even gave us a present which is a fully paid hotel reservation for our honeymoon. Everything were set! Except that they needed to alter my wedding gown because I already gained weight before the wedding....thanks to some restaurants in TX and NM!

To make the story short, we got married with only few of his relatives, friends and family members; his sister was so upset and decided she didn't want to be there because of our religious practices. She left the day of our wedding and that was sad :-( not to mention that no member in my family from Philippines, and of my relatives in the U.S. managed to attend because of such a short noticed. But the wedding must go on whether she (SIL) was there or not! We still think that to this day, she still couldn't pass that. That is why every time we talk about our faith, she will just stop talking and listen or change the topic. Matt and I finally said our "I Do's" and it's been eight years now and we are still happy and in-love, and blessed with two wonderful kids. Thanks to my parents who are very understanding, supportive, respectful and loving, for without them, I wouldn't be what I am today! I love you, Inang and Ama! I will forever be grateful for you, guys! I hope you know that I love you; and that think of you constantly though we are millions of miles away from each other. I also thanked my in-laws for all the helped; and my Aunt's husband who treated me like his own relatives while living with them in Malaysia, and gave me a plane ticket as a wedding present which surprised us both. Matt was supposed to buy it for me though.

The Wedding Cake Test

You Are an Intimate Wedding

Love makes you feel warm and comforted. You may not need much in this world, but you need the love of those you're close to to survive. To be unloved would be heartbreaking for sure, but you would never give up hope. Even if you felt all alone in the world, you're sure you could make new connections. For you, romantic loving is about giving your all and not worrying about what you'll get back in return. Keeping score ruins a relationship. Besides, your ideal partner would naturally want to give as much as possible too. That's what makes you a perfect match.

The Wedding Cake Test

Family Quotations

I got it from American Baby.com, and thought of sharing it with you, guys with a hope to inspire and strengthen families as what it did to mine.

"Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you."
-- H. Jackson Brown

"The mark of a good parent is that he can have fun while being one."
-- Marcelene Cox

"Let your child go if you want to keep them."
-- Malcolm Forbes

"Families ought to be noisy."
-- Benjamin Franklin

"Where we love is home -- home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts."
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."
-- Jane Howard

"Nothing you do for children is wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted."
-- Garrison Keillor

"Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. 'Pooh!' he whispered. 'Yes, Piglet?' 'Nothing,' said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. 'I just wanted to be sure of you.'"
-- A.A. Milne

"A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal, and the common cold."
-- Ogden Nash

"Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to."
-- John Ed Pearce

"If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable -- each segment distinct."
-- Letty Cottin Pogrebin

"Our children are extensions of ourselves in ways our parents are not, nor our brothers and sisters, nor our spouses."
-- Fred Rogers

"The family is one of nature's masterpieces."
-- George Santayana

"Parents learn a lot from their children about coping with life."
-- Muriel Spark

"Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children."
-- Charles R. Swindoll, The Strong Family

"When you teach your son, you teach your son's son."
-- The Talmud

Siblings

"Of two sisters one is always the watcher, one the dancer."
-- Louise Gluck

"A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves -- a special kind of double."
-- Toni Morrison

"I think people that have a brother or sister don't realize how lucky they are. Sure, they fight a lot, but to know that there's always somebody there, somebody that's family."
-- Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park

Published on AmericanBaby.com, February 2007.

I Love You...

To my loving husband... as we grow older, hope we can know each other better... not bitter but better. We are not the perfect couple but I know it well... that you're the one for me and hope I am to you as well. I love you... now and forever!

Couple’s Corner # 4: THE MARRIAGE PROPOSAL

It's Wednesday once again, and time for Couple's Corner by Liza of this is My Life. Forgive me for my poor grammar, dry and boring writing, hope you guys still read it.

When Matt and I decided to see each other in person, I didn't expect for more than a visit. He told me that it would be a birthday present as well. So, on the 12th of March 2001, my cousin and I picked him up at the airport. My Aunt was kind enough to accommodate him for the rest of his stay in Malaysia which lasted for exactly a week. He stayed in the guestroom and I stayed with mine. Anyway, after picking him up, we had a talked with my Aunt and her family... just for them to get to know each other. My Aunt and her husband acted as my parents since my parents were not there. They were happy to see and know Matt. I can tell that they liked him the first time they saw him. Honestly, I didn't expect Matt to propose with me that same night! I was speechless and didn't know what to say; so I said nothing. Yes, that fast! No idea what he felt that night. But, I was happy and nervous inside.

The next day, we spent most of the time going to museums and parks, and ended the day with a dinner at the Chinatown with my Aunt and her family. That night before we finally retire to bed, he once again proposed and finally I said: YES even without an engagement ring. He was very happy and apologetic; he told me that he didn't plan to propose to me. But the moment he saw me at the airport, he told to himself that he would like to spend the rest of his life with me. The next day, we went shopping for an engagement ring, but didn't find the one we both like. To make to story short, he sent me the engagement ring by mail (buti na lang di nawala). The ring looked exactly like the one on the photo above only it was a small one. Two months after our wedding, he surprised me with a new one (see the photo above). I told him he didn't have to it, but he said he wants what is best for me! Of course, he also sent mail to my parents in the Philippines asking their permission to marry me. My parents respected my decision and gave my hand for marriage with Matt.