Silver Anniversary

In his heart a man plans his course,
but the LORD determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:9

Today is our 25th wedding anniversary so we are heading over to Niagara Falls for two-nights. It’ll be good to have our much needed break and time to ourselves. Earlier in the year, we actually talked about inviting people to celebrate with. We got as far as making a list of names. Because it’s a significant year, we thought we should do something special. In the end, we got busy with many things so we invited our relatives over on Sunday and celebrated that way instead. It was good to gather, be with family, and to acknowledge the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness in keeping us together this long.

Eng proposed in January 1987 while we were folding clean laundry in the basement of my sister’s house where I used to live. I matter-of-fact said “yes” because I knew I wanted to marry him. In my mind, I was thinking we’d marry in another two years. Eng dropped a bombshell on me when he said we should marry right away. At the time, he was here as a Malaysian tourist with a three months long visa. Because he arrived in November, his third month was quickly ending. He talked about his family saying he was crazy for coming back for me and how they’d react if he went home to Malaysia. He reasoned with finances and pretty soon I was convinced that it was best to marry in the nearer future. I knew I wanted to marry him anyway so what if it happened sooner? Surely, I reasoned, that it would be fine.

Less than six weeks later, we were married. My mind understood all the logic behind our decision but my body had other ideas the night before our wedding. I was with Eng while we picked up our rented bridal car and started to cry. I told him between tears that I wanted to marry at age 27 and I was only 26. I was about to do something I really didn’t want to do yet and my body was going AWOL on me. Thankfully, Eng (who admitted to me later that I scared him) was able to pacify and console me. The crying relieved the shock that I was going through then and I looked happy to be married the next day.

Eng left after consoling me and attended his stag party. He was dared (or coaxed?) to consume 13 shots of B52s and gamely obliged. He looked bloodshot, weary, and sick the next day but he made it. We wed; Eng a young Christian still finding his way and me, a very religious Catholic. We’ve certainly come a VERY long way.

Until then, I had my life all planned and figured out (at least, I thought I did). Meeting Eng and marrying him definitely changed me. I really started to see things in different ways since then. For the new ways of seeing, I am extremely grateful for Eng. May our next 25 years be better than the first one. With God helping us, it can only be so.

Incidentally, days later, I couldn’t help but wonder about why I was crying with regards to getting married. It was bliss. =)