23rd Jan 2011, on this day, I married you.
There was no complication.
No engagement.
No "ROM marriage."
No traditional "banquet" marriage.
Just an unworthy ring and a wedding that cost us $4,000.
Husband and wife.
I couldn't even remember my vows during the ceremony. The JP handed me a list of vows and I chose the shortest one.
I remember struggling through the vow. Awkward. I did not enjoy any second of it. I had never given you sweet promises like that when we were alone and I had to do that in the presence of so many all of a sudden. When you did yours, you almost cried. I knew you meant every word in your vow and I made the right decision choosing you and being there.
I did not listen to the naggy words by the JP. As the morning sun grew in intensity, I could almost imagine hearing Ah Liam whispering behind us "Wa lao, JP so long winded!" Finally, I got to scribble on the certificate and we were officially husband and wife.
The "banquet" was already way more simplified than it could be by Singapore's standards. Yet, I still couldn't enjoy the "discounted" ordeal. As a result my face suffered more cramps smiling than those 2.4km runs gave my calves in the past. Finally it was all over and we drove away in my beautifully decorated Renault Kangoo, the shiniest van in Singapore at all times. You know how I hated all those shit. I could have stay single all my life just to avoid those. Easily. You know me. So you know how much you mean to me to make myself go through that.
No fanciful 5 stars hotel stay for us. Just a stay at the Sentosa Beach Resort, near the beaches where our friendship blossomed during the beach volleyball days. We spent a night there and I had to return to work the following Monday. We were to spend our next months busy at work respectively, hardly seeing each other other than waking up and turning in. The first few months of our marriage was uninspiring at best.
9 months after our marriage, we landed in Perth. You, being 5 months into a surprise pregnancy. Me, being jobless, frightened and tired. There, we started a breath taking journey into the unknown, fighting, crawling for a chance to survive in this strange new land we wanted to call home. For me, all the marriage vows in the world were meaningless in that point of time they were made. What matters most is the act to carry it out, to be there for each other at our most vulnerable moments. That hardly happened during the early days where we said good morning and night and got ourselves consumed by work for the rest of our days. Now we have time to argue about the origins of that mysterious bottle of horrible beer in the fridge. We are living.
And there, two fine, cute kids sleeping in the rooms quietly at 7.30pm, as I write this.
You stuck with me through sickness and suffering, in more good times than bad, in more sorrow than joy while I promise you nothing and have given you no assurance of what the future holds. What a fool you are. Not only you have to put up with this thing you married but you have to apologise to his friends, family and even kids for his lack of tact and personal touch. The second best thing that happened to me was my birth, the best thing was meeting this fool.
Our journey is just the beginning and there is unlimited potential ahead of us. Our house faces the North-West, the direction of the unknown. From there, we will venture further into the unknown.
Thank you for taking me into through this path. Thank you for telling me you will never turn back today. Although I remember no marriage vow, no flowery verses or romantic lines, one thing I can promise you is You'll Never Walk Alone.
I'll walk on with you until the very end.
That is the way of the Fool.