Tuesday, April 18, 2017

The Overdue Year-ender Turned Year-starter Letter

*written on January 11, 2017*


It’s almost 7am here in Koh Yao Yai. My husband is still sleeping soundly inside our room. I decided to stay at the balcony so as not to disturb his peace. Initially, I wanted to stroll alone near the resort’s pier, which is my favorite part of this place. But I’m too lazy to change into decent clothes. So here I am.

To say that the final month of 2016 was crazy is an understatement. We had a wedding, took a short vacation, moved in to a temporary home, celebrated the holidays with both families and went back to work right after New Year.

This honeymoon is meant to help us settle down.

By the way, we’re in Thailand. We didn’t put much thought into this. We got our tickets a year ago for 2,000php each (including terminal fee!). Both of us are beach-lovers, so I thought yeah Phuket is a good choice. Also, it would be our first time to travel alone so overthinking the destination isn’t necessary. It’s a first; It’s special.  We also dodged a bullet just a few weeks before the trip. I booked at a resort that was in Phuket technically but would require another plane ride to get to. Disaster!! When I found out, it was too late because I already paid in full. My bad, I couldn’t resist the no cancellation discount. I sent an email to the hotel manager to explain what happened and, fortunately, he said that they have this other resort, not in Phuket, but reachable by a short speed boat ride. It’s more expensive but I’d take it instead of wasting all that money we paid. It turned out, the island is Koh Yao Yai- perched right in the middle of Phuket and Krabi. It’s beautiful. It’s really beautiful here. Everywhere we look is like a painting. The people are warm.  The food is great. And I almost forgot how much I paid for this. Haha!

Going back, this morning, I wanted to write my year-end entry for 2016. This quiet time is meant for that, but I’m no longer in the mood. Rather than looking back, I want to look forward. This is the year we start building a life together as each other's family. I’ve been married for only 26 days. I do not know yet what marriage is, not even by the coating. But this, I know, is how I hope it would be:

I hope we continue creating our own “family” traditions, like how we start every meal with a prayer. Even though we’re just eating toasted pandesal and leftover ham.

Marriage is about bringing the other person closer to Christ. We are still both discovering exactly what that means but I thought of it that day when he panicked because he forgot to get us a copy of Our Daily Bread. We vowed to read it together every day. We fail most days but we keep on trying.

I hope marriage makes us kinder to each other. I’m sure I can do more of that but in his case, I can’t imagine if he can be kinder than how he is to me right now. He patiently teaches me household chores and just laugh when I don’t get it right the first time. I struggle when making sunny side up egg. Imagine that!

Marriage is partnership. I have this favorite quote, “Love is if you’re happy and I’m happy, we can share. But if I’m happy and you’re not happy, you can share nothing.” This marriage thing has almost made it impossible to have a bad day. When work sucks, all I need is to hear him share how exciting his day was and suddenly, I’m in a good mood, too. Everything good becomes better while the not-so-good doesn’t seem that bad anymore.

In my vows, I promised to love him with bravery, joy, and kindness. My prayer is for those three elements to forever be alive in our marriage. 

I hope that as the years go by, as we celebrate anniversary after anniversary, our only regret would be not getting married sooner. But laugh about the realization eventually because we both know, as much as we love each other, we also treasure the years we were independently striving to become the persons we are now. I hope that, no matter what, we keep our faith in the plan, His plan. We started this journey trusting that there is a plan, and that it is the best, and I know we will get through the years together holding on to that.



I am beyond thrilled to make a full orbit as a Misis this year.

Comments: Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]





<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]