Eight to Celebrate

We celebrate our independence day today. Not the country’s independence but Agom and mine’s. On this same day eight years ago, we took the jump to freedom by getting married.

My former boss actually made me realize that when he joked about us choosing the 12th of June as our wedding date. Come to think of it, getting hitched is ironically setting oneself free from so many things.

The day I got married I freed myself from the nagging question of whether someone out there is meant for me because God’s chosen one was waiting for me at the altar. I trust that Agom, even while I saw him sweating like any nervous groom, also knew that the woman bound to meet him at the altar was God’s chosen one and he can finally liberate himself from the endless search.

In these few years of our wedded life, our freedom comes in the form of being true to oneself and no longer feeling encumbered by the exaggerations of romance. We present what we really are to each other and we love each other more for every quirk that we’ve probably kept hidden while we were still sweethearts for fear of breaking up. We allow romance to be the spice of our marriage but we try hard not to let any failed romantic expectations destroy what we hold dear to us. After all, we both know that the twists and turns we went through to stay together are enough proof that love is not really all about romance but a decision we need to prove beyond flowers, gift, or even the wedding bands we wear everyday.

That is another freedom we celebrate today: the choice to stay together in spite of and despite of all the hurts, doubts, and resentment. Liberty to be one because there are far more wondrous things to enjoy together than apart, because there are more beautiful memories to build as a couple rather than as a lonely nomad, because there are hurdles best solved when two minds work it out.

HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY TO US!