day 619 | july 21, 2012 | lucy in the sky

lucy love and i have a long distance relationship. our usual online messaging repartee is to discuss plans to try to come see each other somehow either in singapore, or sweden, or where ever in the world life brought us. we didn't see each other for almost four years before she came by to visit us in KL with her boy, and that was close to three years ago.

it was december 19, 2009, when i received an out-of-the-ordinary note from her. it went like this: "steph love, the felicitations are for this: mr j has proposed and i've gone and said yes. :) i'm getting married love! ... i would be absolutely thrilled if you and roo were in my entourage! i haven't really thought of the exact details yet. but i think i want you to be my bridesmaid and roo, my flower girl. and W can beam with pride at his girls from the pews. :) say yes!"

it was a given. i would be there, rain or shine, with a husband or without one, with travel-easy roo alone or with the tinysaurus red.

more than 2 years later, it's finally happened. packed my two kids along with my winsome lifesaver and somehow managed to bring ourselves where we needed to be.

it wasn't all smooth. while trying to look for the dressmaker's shop, i cried in the middle of sta. mesa between nagtahan bridge and pureza mrt station, frantically looking, thinking i had lost my lifesaver and roo after being unable to find them for a heart-stopping 10 minutes. what's more, it turned out, our dresses were no longer in the shop.

nature did not make it easy...at all! it rained all three days that we were in tagaytay for the wedding. 

the little ones were quite clingy as it's the first time that all three of us were away from home for a significant amount of time -- so i couldn't shoot as much as i wanted to. i only hope i managed to capture some worthwhile gems for them with the few snaps i took. 

i didn't get to snap photos of roo walking down the aisle, nor did i walk down the aisle myself. instead, opted to capture these pre-march in images for her...

as well as everyone's emotions as she walked in...

i've seen her deliver many speeches, but her teary, sob-choked delivery of a non-traditional yet highly personalized wedding vow will remain her best for a very long time. between that and j's raw honesty, they had everyone in tears. 

there's a shot of my roo...

we had a wonderful dinner reception at antonio's, regaled with heartfelt anecdotes of their individual and couple story...

 lucy. that's her. one of the most beautiful people i know...

being with her is like being right beside a tornado. she's terrifyingly intelligent and it's unfair that she's gifted with a wide irrepressible grin and an irresistible charisma that can convince even the most rational (and hard-hearted) to get into trouble. after all, she recruited me into debsoc by simply reading my palm.

we saw the world together. we spread rumours together. and we broke our hearts together...

i love you lucy love, to pieces. and i'm so so happy to see the look of happily in love and happily beloved on you and your 'chosen.' honored to have been part of your wedding -- and privy to one of the best days of your life.