And so it is with people. No one “bumps” into other beings in this life without somehow being changed by the encounter. Life, as you know it, will never be the same again. For instance, who would have ever thought that two souls as poles apart in their personal histories and passions as Rein and I would end up pledging unending love to each other? That it would now be impossible to imagine a life without the other? That one ordinary day, one unremarkable moment, one mundane conversation, and one unlikely friendship, would lead to this one extraordinary, life-changing event?
One year ago today, I would have rolled my eyes at the thought. One year ago today, at exactly 12:15:06am, I came into “contact” with Rein for the very first time through a text message. He was the friend of a friend, a girl I had met only a month before, with whom I had shared little more than a room and a stage during an arduous theater tour. She kept asking me if I wanted to meet this friend of hers, a guy whose grey-green eyes and high ideals I might find interesting. I told her no, I wouldn’t be interested in meeting her friend. Not for anything, but I felt it would have been a most awkward encounter. What scintillating tidbits would that first exchange contain? Hi...hello...SO...you’re Neomi’s friend...er, yes, I am...(SFX: cricket...cricket...) Thanks, I said, but no thanks.
How about just talking to him on the phone, my persistent friend persisted. Er…NO, I said, a little more firmly. Thank you, truly, for thinking of me as the perfect phone pal for your friend. I’m sure he is the salt of the earth and a real gem of a guy, but this is not how I’ve chosen to find a date for myself. I was pretty sure, you see, that my destined romance would take place onboard a plane headed for New York, our eyes glued to the black and white, Woody Allen-esque panorama of a skyline below. The music playing overhead would be “It Had To Be You.” We would be on the same row, but on opposite window seats. Then, just as the heavens conspired, we would tear our eyes away from our respective windows for just a moment at the very same instant. Our eyes would meet, and then the music overhead would suddenly segue into “Rhapsody in Blue”. And THEN, and only then, would I have agreed to have coffee the moment we landed.
But my friend, bless her dear (and intuitive!) heart, patiently waited till another day, after an exhausting rehearsal, to slip it again into one of our late night conversations. How about if you just let him send you a text message, she said, grinning from ear to ear. After mentioning it once or twice more, I finally said ok. I mean, fine. It was only a text message. How bad could it be? I could always ignore it. Or better yet, delete it.
Well, a bazillion text messages later…and many, many calls, and meals and movies and drives and walks and conversations and cosmic collisions since, here we are, counting the days to our wedding. A whole new galaxy of swirling sparks and particles and dreams and promises is now ready to be born.
I even remember how our text "conversation" that night ended. I still have his message in my celfone's inbox till now: Ok...U must b tired. Nice 2 exchange msges w/ u. Hope 2b able 2 talk 2 u more... Thanks 4 txting. Take care on ur way home. Late na.
So today is technically our anniversary, not of the day we became a couple or got engaged, but of the day we first “collided”. After the wedding, this day will mostly likely never be commemorated, or even mentioned, again.But I will remember it. How can I not? It was the day the rest of my life officially began.
(Cue Song: Hey look at the sun, it's finally shining on my life...)
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, HONEY!!!
Here’s to the journey of a lifetime...
happy "anniversary", guys! it was also not so very long ago when i remember having called you up to greet you on your birthday, only to be surprised by your statement that some guy was at your house to celebrate with you. only later was i able to get first dibs on the romance which has changed your life forever. hope we can all go out together again soon. there's still a karaoke session on the agenda. miss you na. :)