Of joy and sadness

My Dad likes to say that the first time he met Mom, it was love at first sight. She was waiting at the bus stop and he was on his motorcycle waiting for the light to turn green when he saw her. "And that's when I saw your Mom, in her tight kebaya, looking pissed off and bothered under the sun. She looked beautiful."

My Dad then proceed to wait across the street everyday from the bus stop so that he can have a look at Mom. I pointed out that this was in fact an act of stalking and he was in fact, stalking her. He said he wasn't stalking but being romantic. I say stalking. He maintains on romantic. We got into an argument. He threatened not to give me any more money for shoes.

The Constantly Dramatic One agrees that it is indeed romantic.

It was a week before he had the guts to ask her out. It was a whole month before she finally agree on going out with him. It was a year later that they were married. And this month, on Dec 6th 2007 its going to be 27 years since all that.

My parents received a whole lot of opposition when they were starting out. Mainly because Dad was engaged to another girl when he met Mom. To be fair it was family arranged, and to be fair the girl he was engaged to also had a beau of her own. In any event my Mom was seen as a troublemaker by Dad's family and his whole family hated...actually they still do hate her but that's another story for another day.

They almost didn't make it my Mom and Dad...Dad was so desperate he suggested that they should elope but that didn't happened because before they could do anything about it, the girl my Dad was engaged to eloped with HER beau. Kinda solve the problem for my parents. Lots of drama right? Now you people know why I'm so dramatic. Totally runs in the family people.

Anyways what I'm trying to say is that after all these years my parents are still together and going strong. I like the way how Dad calls Mom from the office just to hear her voice everyday for the last 27 years. I admire the fact that Mom won't eat alone no matter how hungry she is, she will wait for him to come home from work to have dinner with him. I love how they still go to the same A&W they used to have dates on some Sundays. It makes me smile how they still hold each other's hands when they're out together.

So why am I talking about this? It could possibly be because their anniversary is coming up or...it also could possibly be the fact that my older sister just told me that she is getting married next year.

On one hand I am happy for her but on another I am sad because my older sister is leaving me. I'm all very mixed up now. Instead of joy, I am overwhelmed with sadness. Weddings are not supposed to be sad especially when your sister comes home all glowing with happiness and telling you that you are the first person in the whole world to know that she's engaged. She wants you to be the first person to know coz that's how important you are to her. No, this is supposed to be the occasion to be remembered and celebrated and shared. Look at Mom and Dad, 27 years now so yeah, this could work....but yet...

I am worried. What if the guy she is marrying turns out to be a huge jerk? What happens if he starts hitting her and my sister ends up becoming a statistic? There are sooo many possibilities here, both good and bad. I prefer to pay attention to the bad so that I can go ahead resenting the guy for taking my sister away from me....childish? I know....... But on the other hand she could end up with a guy who loves her the way Dad loves Mom. She could end up with the type of marriage our parents have. Or she could not. But what she will definitely be is some one's wife and someone else's sister in law.

No longer exclusively my sister anymore.

In any event, putting aside whatever it is my emotional conflict over this... I hope she finds the kind of joy my parents found in their marriage in her own. I really do.