History

Dec 23, 2007
“Be, yan na lang o, okay na yan. Kahit yan na lang ang bigay mo sa akin.” (Be, over there, that’s fine with me) Joy was gesturing over at a Silverworks shop in Market Market. She was joking that a silver ring would do for an engagement ring. She joked like this a lot because she had already set her mind that I wouldn’t give her a real engagement ring, since we're in the stage of planning the wedding already. And as I’ve said earlier, this wasn’t the first time she hinted—well if not directly spat out---that she wanted one. B.S. aside, I was really planning to give her one. It’s just that the “OPERATOR” in me worked the whole thing up till I can get her mind off it for a while. Budget is such a pain in the @ss because these things don’t come cheap, that’s why I had to do some delaying tactics in order to save for it. There were a lot of times when I laughed at her, telling her na “di na kailangan yan!” (We don’t need that), or joking what if I got her a lollipop ring like in the movie which I can’t remember, stuff like that. What she didn’t know was that every hint I got from her was my checklist for the perfect engagement ring.

There were times when she would compare her gold ring to her imaginary engagement ring and she’d say something like, “I kinda like my engagement ring to be somewhat like this one, not too loud, the diamond’s the right size, it’s set low…”. That prepared me for my hunt, but of course it was always met with my joke-then-aloof-face-we-don’t-need-that tactic. It breaks my heart to see her frown after that but I said to myself to be strong. I know it will pay off in the end. I scoured jewelry shops, whenever I could with my little free time. Some were too fancy, some were okay but the setting was too high, some had stone settings that looked unstable, some were yellow gold, some had cheesy designs, some looked cheap—even if they were not! Man, I told myself, this will be one big hunt. I had to delay some more… Be, I really am sorry for the times I made you sad and made you think I wouldn’t give you your ring.

Backtrack Dec 22, 2007
My Mom, my little brother and I were at Alabang Town Center, doing some last minute Christmas shopping. After finishing the necessities, it was time for my hunt again. My brother and I left Mom at a lounge, she needed to rest coz she was tired and sleepy, and off we went. I wasn’t really familiar with the jewelry scene at ATC and being men that we were, we didn’t ask for directions. When I was about to ask a guard, I saw ACME Jewelry. Fine, that sounds like where Wile E. Coyote gets his bling, but sure, let’s check it out! After looking at a few rings, I was starting to lose hope again—too expensive, too cheesy, it’s yellow—it was crunch time and I needed a ring, the Perfect ring! Then, a small white gold ring with the classiest diamond setting was given to me. Wow. This is it. The next question was: DO YOU HAVE EPS (Express Payment System)? Now all my fingers were crossed, this will make or break my deadline. ATMs were soooo sucky at that time, being Christmas and all, and I couldn’t make a single withdrawal anywhere! Plan B was to beg Mom to charge it to her card, but I really wouldn’t be comfortable with that. So when Anna said they had EPS, it was like all the blood in my head rushed to calm me and my breathing regulated. Man, you’d never see me give my card so willingly to a stranger. IT IS DONE! FINITO! FINISHED! Well, not quite yet.

They said that I’d get my ring on the 28th, since I had to get it resized. That’s 3 effin’ days after Christmas! That’s 3 days beyond my deadline! Oh well, at least I’ve found The One for The One. I left with the assurance that they would contact me if it was done sooner. That’s fine, I guess.

Fast Forward Dec 24, 2007
The lazy bastard in me woke up at around 1pm. We were busy doing some fixing stuff around the house when Mom told us (my 2 brothers and I) if we could pick something up from the grocery. Being in vacation mode and all, I decided to put my cellphone on Silent Mode. It was about 3PM when I looked at my phone to check if I had messages and AYAYAY!… the saleslady texted me, saying the ring was ready. The mall closes early that day and I still haven’t taken a bath yet. I always shower fast, but man, this was warp speed!

My brothers decided to tag along and just do the groceries in Alabang instead. My alarm screwed up too after we picked up the ring and for a while we were driving with the alarm ringing 'til my older brother decided just to snap the effin’ wire on the alarm horn. It was stressful thinking how long before a police car chased us, but all I can think of is I’M MAKING IT ON CHRISTMAS! Perfect!

This was one of the most fulfilling days of my life! I can’t believe how happy, relieved and excited I was, knowing that in my hand is a gift to make Joy officially mine. And the rest, they say, is her story… I love you, Joy.

Her Story

There comes a time in a girl’s life when she plans on finally settling down. When I was still a kid, I thought the perfect age would be at 24. But when I reached that age, I realized that I still had so many things I wanted to do, so I decided to postpone it especially since my relationship with Bob then was quite young and new.

But then, you can’t postpone it for too long because unfortunately, ang babae habang tumatanda, bumababa ang market value ika nga nila. Sad, but true. Especially when you plan on having kids. Ang dugas nga eh kasi ang mga lalaki, mas nagiging desirable the older they get kasi mas mature na sila and hopefully, sawa na sa mga kalokohan hehehe.

But I digress. So anyway, yun nga. I didn’t want to get married ng too old so I put a deadline on myself (and in effect, kay Bob rin) that I should get married before I reached my 30’s. After years of being together, Bob and I already knew that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with one another, but having a deadline I suppose put pressure on his part, and maybe that’s why we ended up making wedding plans.

It was definitely not how I imagined it. I’ve always been the sentimental and romantic type; I wanted my engagement moment to be a big surprise, with matching luhud-luhod on one knee, candlelit dinner, music and flowers. Kung pwede ngang may gimmick pa like nakatago sa loob ng cake yung ring or naka-announce sa billboard yung proposal hehehe. What can I say, reyna talaga ako ng cheese :)

Sobrang big deal sakin talaga ang mga special occasions. Whether birthday, anniversary, lalo na Valentine’s day (which if I may say eh sobrang hate ni Bob kasi mashado raw commercialized, bah humbug!), kailangan may celebration yun kahit papaano, or at least bigyan man lang ng konting effort. Eh lalo na kaya ang engagement which (ideally) comes only once sa lifetime ng isang babae.

So you can just imagine my disappointment when we started making plans na for our wedding. Heto na kami nagda-down payment for the church and reception venue, may date at entourage na at lahat… pero walang proposal?!?!? I kept making parinig kay Bob telling him how sad I was na hindi ko na-experience yung surprise moment na yun of finding out na gusto pala niya akong pakasalan. I told him what kind of ring I wanted and how I wanted to be proposed to, tapos ang sagot niya lang sakin eh “Kailangan pa ba nun? Ang corny!”

But I didn’t give up, ayoko naman siyang i-nag kasi sobrang pathetic ko na nun, so at night ipinagdadasal ko na lang na magpropose na sakin finally si Bob (at least MEDYO pathetic lang hehehe), kasi hindi ko talaga maramdaman na ikakasal na ako. I couldn’t even tell my friends kasi the few na nasabihan ko, isa lahat ang reaction, “Patingin ng singsing!” Eh wala akong mapakita, so I stopped telling people na lang. I even tried to connive with our friends to find out from Bob kung may plans nga siya of proposing pero wala talaga silang mapiga kay Bob which for me meant wala talagang plano si mokong! :)

But I kept the faith, only to be met by disappointment time and time again. Until I decided to stop hoping. Sabi ko sa sarili ko, I’m just torturing myself when it’s so apparent that Bob will never propose. Tutal naman pakakasalan ako, okay na yun!

And yet deep inside I could never shake the nagging thought na baka kaya ako pakakasalan ni Bob eh dahil napilitan na lang siya, na-pressure sakin. So even in the midst of wedding planning, I couldn’t feel true happiness. I couldn’t erase the doubts in my head. I felt na kaya hindi nagpo-propose si Bob eh dahil ayaw niya pa talaga magpakasal.

Yesterday, Christmas day, Bob and I made plans to see each other to have dinner (shempre holiday, kailangan i-celebrate!). When he picked me up at home, pagsakay ko ng car, inabutan niya ako ng Starbucks paper bag. Gift daw niya. Since his sister worked at Starbucks, akala ko yung planner ng Starbucks ang ibibigay niya sakin. Pagbukas ko, isang 300-calorie piece of cake na nasa parang luma na na packaging ang bumungad sakin. Initial thought ko was, ito gift sakin ni Bob?! Not that I wasn’t grateful, medyo parang weird lang kasi anytime pwede niya ako bigyan ng ganun, bakit tinaon pa na Pasko. And besides, alam niyang hindi ako mahilig sa sweets. Pero sabi ni Bob, meron pang laman yang paper bag. I looked, and found two CDs of my super favorite Julia Fordham. Solb na ko, props lang pala yung cake kasi yung CDs pala talaga yung totoo niyang gift. I was happy already, until Bob said, meron pang laman yan. Sabi ko, wala na, ang gaan na nung paper bag! Sabi niya, hindi meron pa, check mo ulit. And lo and behold, at the very bottom of the bag was a small velvet box.

Hindi ko napigilan, bigla akong napaluha. I thought to myself, ito na ba yun?? Is this finally it?? Pero at the same time, naisip ko rin na, iiyak-iyak ako tapos mamaya hikaw naman pala ang laman nung kahon or kwintas, mukha akong tanga! Or baka Bob meant to have that box as a joke; sa isip-isip ko, it would be a veeeeerrrrrrryyyy bad joke, unforgivable even. Ang bilis talaga ng takbo ng isip ko nun, conflicting thoughts and emotions, kasi for that brief moment, I allowed myself to hope again and I didn’t want to be disappointed another time.

Nung hindi na ako makatiis, binuksan ko na yung kahon. And what I saw inside made me drop the box on my lap, cover my face with both my hands, and I bawled like a baby. Daig ko pa ang batang nawala sa loob ng mall at hindi mahanap ang magulang sa lakas ng iyak ko. As in hagulgol to the max talaga. Hindi alam ni Bob kung paano ako patatahanin kasi I think I was crying for over a minute yata. I remember him saying, “Be tama na, pinagtitinginan na tayo ng mga tao, baka akala inaaway kita.” But how could I stop crying? Inside the box was the most beautiful white gold engagement ring I could ever dream of. The only time I was able to stop covering my face was when Bob said, “Be akin na yung kamay mo para maisuot ko sayo yung singsing.” And when he placed the ring on my finger, it was a perfect fit! Then Bob said, “Will you marry me?”, I hugged him and started bawling again! Sabi na ni Bob (who was also crying na at this point), “Be, hindi mo sinasagot yung tanong ko. Will you marry me?” And I told him, “Shempre!”

It was amazing, the ring was amazing, Bob was amazing! The ring was perfect, it was exactly how I wanted it to be. The width of the band, the size of the stone… perfect! I honestly couldn’t have chosen a better one. Tumalon talaga ako palabas ng sasakyan and I raced inside our house to show off my beautiful ring to my parents. Apparently I was blubbering kasi wala silang maintindihan sa sinabi ko. Nakita lang nila na sumugod ako sa kwarto nila, humahagulgol habang nakataas ang kamay ko and they jumped to the conclusion na nanakawan ako! My dad was so worried but my mom saw na the ring on my finger and she too started crying! So Dad ko sobrang clueless kung bakit dalawa kaming umiiyak so lalo tuloy siyang kinabahan (sorry Dad!) until my mom and I were able to calm down and start being coherent again hehehe.

When I went back sa car, tinanong ni Bob kung saan ko daw gusto pumunta, isa agad ang sagot ko, “I want a manicure! Kailangan maganda ang kamay ko pag nagshow-off ako ng ring!” Hehe :)

And that is how we spent the rest of the day. Bob got a haircut while I was getting my French tips. Habang nagpapa-manicure nga ako, hindi ko napipigilan, nagluluha pa rin ako. Siguro nga napa-praning na sa akin yung manikurista eh hehehe. I couldn’t help it, pag naiisip ko yung mga pangyayari, naiiyak ako na natatawa kasi wa-poise talaga yung reaction ko hehehe. Kung may ilang beses talaga ako naiyak the whole day yesterday. Up to now a part of me still finds the whole thing unbelievable.

Be, no words can describe how happy you made me feel. Thank you for the best Christmas ever. I love you very, very much.

And to everyone else, let's look forward to a great new year! May you experience that amazing kind of crazy-happiness at least once in your life, and may you find that perfect someone you’ll want to spend the rest of your life with. I did :)