"Marriage is a work in progress." - Edzel
The start of January has been crazy busy. It has been only six days into the new year and we have already attended two weddings!
The first celebration was that of our couple friend, Mig and Cara. These two have been together for almost a decade and we were all happy that they tied the knot.
Barkada weddings are always fun. It is one of the few times that we get to see almost all of our friends. We finished around 4AM the next day!
Two days after, we attended the wedding of a cute couple, Niño and Linlin.
Niño used to work with Edzel and the couple is our first inaanak sa kasal! Hahaha!
I loved how intimate this couple's wedding was. It was full of heart, laughter and tears.
The husband gave a speech about marriage which I found quite amusing. Edzel and I have been married for more than two years (together for eight) and we have had our share of heaven and hell. But yes, what he said is true. Marriage is indeed a work in progress. Something that both partners have to strive to work on every single day.
I also liked what the priest said during the homily -- marriage does not keep you from temptations. When you get married, you still meet other people. Someone who could be more beautiful than your wife; someone much sweeter than your husband. But it is the commitment that you make, every single day to stay faithful to your vows and to that one person you chose to bring before the altar.
Weddings like this give me a warm, fuzzy feeling. It reminds me of my own and in some indirect approach, strengthens my faith and commitment to stay true to what I have promised before God.
To cap this post, let me share some of my thoughts on marriage:
1. It takes a lot of patience, understanding, love (lahat na!) to stay together. There are two different people in this union, living together every day for what could be until the rest of their lives. This can be daunting if you don't have a lot of love in your arsenal.
2. Forgive. Forgive. Forgive. I have an awesome benchmark as advised to me by Ms Harvey Chua: make a rule to leave your husband only once and never come back. Whenever in a fight, ask yourself, "Is this it?" In most cases, there is no enough reason to leave.
3. Little things matter. I committed this a grave mistake at the start of my marriage which almost tore us apart. I was never about "little things". It seemed so menial. I was so absorbed with work that I just didn't care if Edzel and I talked or not. I never answered his texts. The only time that I would get in touch with him was to ask if he was already picking me up from the office. I didn't make any effort to do my duties as a wife - never cooked for him, never learned how to drive to save him from the burden of always picking me up and driving me to work - these among many other things. So yes, my neglect of those little things made me a bad wife. I think this is what happens in long-term relationships. You slack off thinking that things will always stay the same.
As I said, I learned my lesson the hard way. So now, I try. I try my very best and what we have has become way better that what we had when we started out. I am sure that there will still be many challenges ahead of us but somehow, I am inclined to believe that things really happen for a reason. And so be it.
What about you, loves? Share your lessons about married life :-)
xx,
Balot
