the wedding cycle

it must have been an exciting weekend for miss ene.

her boyfriend proposed!

he'd whisked her off on a specially-planned mystery holiday and she only discovered the destination when she reached the airport - macau. then the birthday and the ring. a short brief here.

anyway, the girl must be in 7th heaven. absolutely over-the-moon.

which got me thinking. did the hub EVER propose to me?

i tried to recall, from the deepest recess at the back of my mind...

hmmm.

the closest thing to a proposal was something about getting a HDB flat.

that was way back in 1996.

of course i never let it rest now, and i sometimes complain about how i gave in so easily. the hub claimed that he did ask me to marry him and i'm usually very good at remembering such details but somehow this so-called episode didn't seem to make much impact so i casually dismiss it as a mere figment of his imagination.

to the hub's credit, there was a ring involved. a simple platinum band with a single diamond (so what if it was less than a carat?) the ring was slightly large but i didn't care. they didn't have a smaller size. more importantly, i chose it because it was nothing too fancy and the price was right for someone who'd just started working.

not that it matters now. we've been legally married for 8 years and have started a family. and i am contented.

but thinking back, what i hated most was the hassle of the wedding preparation.

decisions, decisions, decisions.

the wedding gowns. the wedding photographs and albums (collecting dust somewhere on top of the cupboard). the wedding banquet. the menu. the dowry. the traditions. the money, or rather, lack of it.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

a horribly trying period for everyone involved as each insisted on sharing their inputs on how the wedding should be conducted. and after all those sleepless nights and fights, who'd EVER want to go through it all over again?

no thanks, i'll pass.

and now, all those hair-tearing moments are but a dim and distant memory. the hub and i have a good laugh over it once in a while. i think we were both just relieved when the day was over and we could get back to breathing again.

in 5 days' time, we'll be celebrating our 6th traditional wedding anniversary - i.e. the date the folks recognise as the "real deal". i doubt we'll be doing anything special or going for a elaborate meal, especially since i'm still suffering from poor appetite and fighting fatigue.

but it'll be nice to just be home with the hub and kids. as i said earlier, these days, i'm easily contented.