Some of us crazy bloggers have been going on overdrive recounting love stories… thanks to June, who sparked it all off, chief-instigator her (of all things good no less).
So here’s ours, no photos cos we’d like to preserve a measure of anonymity on this wildly popular (HAH!) blog, but hopefully the story is good enough. Anyway, we look just as good as the first day we met. HAH x2!
One of my earliest thoughts vis a vis the hubbs as I watched him at the office photocopier (yes I am a scary stalker) was “Sigh, all the good men are taken.” Because he was (good man plus taken).
I got to know him when I started work in Oct 2002, and he had started a few months earlier in the neighbouring directorate. However, by early 2003, I found out that he had become, ahem, available.
The main criterion for me was for my boyfriend to be a disciple, beyond just being a believer. And he seemed to fit the bill. He was serious about his faith, actively serving in church, and our earliest ‘innocuous dates’ were lunchtime trips to SKS, “to get some books”. (Once, before we were attached, we bumped into his Uncle and Aunt there, and they gave us some very cute looks.) We also went with some other colleagues to the Lunchtime Bible Talks organised by Project Timothy at Raffles Place. Haha so holy-moly. Of course it didn’t hurt that he was is also quite hamsom (to me at least).
The funniest part was probably how supportive our colleagues were – from peers to supervisors to like 3 levels above us… they all tried to play matchmaker. And all were fighting to claim credit when we finally tied the knot. I guess they also felt that we’d make a good pair!
I recall on one worktrip to Panama, the head of delegation cornered me and asked me whether I liked that boy, and she then went on to plot with another boss on how to make things happen!
On my part I wasn’t sure whether he was properly interested or not, so it was like a waiting game. Our peers organised group dinners, forced us to sit together, and one of his seniors actually told him flat one day “What’s a girl gotta do, man?”.
To this day, our friend, in his own defence, says “But I was praying about it!”. Hmm. Right.
Then, a good JC pal of mine decided that to speed things up, he’d send some flowers to the office on my birthday, since his own wisdom was that some guys need a bit of competition for them to show hand (or realise their true feelings, and be jolted to make a it’s-now-or-never move). But alamak! It backfired and almost caused us never to be. Guess I was totally clueless about his psychological make-up. The hubbs told me that when he saw the flowers on my desk he was so discouraged and thought, oh someone else likes her and he’s probably better than me, so I should just give up. *FACEPALM*
But anyway, thanks to a group of close friends (mostly from his department) that we still meet up with today, this misperception was corrected, and we finally got together during a nice lomatic dinner at the Peak in Hong Kong, when I went to visit him (yes I am very forward) on his birthday in 2005 whilst he was on a 3 month course there. I lugged a kuay lapis Bengawan Solo cake all the way up and stuck a candle in it. (Ok, superfluous information there.)
He proposed on 21 Feb 2006, we tied the knot on 17 Mar 2007, and fast forward to today (Sept 2012), we “are” two kids and (dare I say) counting…
Guess I should really take this opportunity to say, thanks dear, for being the wonderful best friend and lifelong companion you are. I’m grateful that all those rock-solid qualities I glimpsed in the early days have come to bear, and although we have our quirks (we are SO different) and um, healthy fights, I’m so glad I married you!
I love this. I remember grinning while reading this the first time and it still makes me laugh. Now to reread J’s side of it! haha!