day 680 | july 14, 2013 | Binky Bunnies

Nine years ago, I met a boy who takes care of two rabbits, and keeps a book titled "Rabbits for Dummies." That to me was a sign. Here's someone who cares about the littlest of creatures, and had the earnest heart to grow his knowledge in any manner available to him -- A nutty geek like me. He built his rabbits a three-storey home, and gave them fresh vegetables with every opportunity. I learned from him what a 'binky' is. It's the happiest expression a rabbit can have, where they jump up and do head-to-toe twists mid-air. He showed me a bunny's happy dance. Years later, I am still proud to say I married that boy.

This is the boy who inspired me into binky-levels of happiness. With this kind of painfully beautiful light, the shadows were equally dark. It's been a roller-coaster ride; there have been many moments of doubt and mistrust and talks of separation. What is seen by most are the picture perfect moments of marriage. The snot-filled hiccup-y crying, and dagger-sharp anger are contained in the private sphere where there are many layers of meaning to the simplest of words. But such is marriage.

I used to think that "Love" will just magically make things OK. Over time, I've learned that with two lives so deeply interwoven; there's bound to be friction in elements that have yet to be sandpapered into an agreeable compromise. And that sandpapering can be an exercise of a lifetime.

Golden Gate Bridge

So here's to learning and growing everyday, and choosing to hold on to the good things...

...here's to giving each other the space and the encouragement to fulfill each others' dreams.

Fushimi Inari Taisha

...here's to winning every struggle to speak in gentleness regardless of the circumstance...

...and here's to a partnership that is hopefully made stronger by a stubborn sort of commitment. Nine years does make us some sort of stubborn, don't it, boss? :)

"Love is a temporary madness, 

it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.

And when it subsides, you have to make a decision.

You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together 

that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.

Because this is what love is.

Love is not breathlessness,

it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion,

it is not the desire to mate every second minute of the day,

it is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every cranny of your body.

No, don't blush, I am telling you some truths.

That is just being "in love", which any fool can do.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, 

and this is both an art and a fortunate accident."

- Louis de Bernieres, Captain Corelli's Mandolin