Respect. Trust. Learning.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Celebrations for anniversaries should never follow the stereotype shown on TV.

It was something Az and I agreed about. I mean, no matter how well-planned a date or celebration is, things are bound to go wrong. So, does either party become anal and sulk like a child at a thing unfulfilled? Or should the person who planned the celebration fret till his or her brain explodes?

Neither.

We celebrated our first year together today, spending the whole day together.

He came over in the morning to heat up sauce for the pasta he'd already cooked at home. Cream sauce with herbs mixed with mozerella is brilliant, though the saltiness could have been toned down a wee bit. But it was okay. It was nice seeing him busy himself at the stove again. *grins*

Exchanged our gifts after we finished eating (will post the pictures of them below). Then it was off to watch a show we've eyed since before it came out: Helen the Baby Fox. It was a Japanese production, a very simple show about a young boy who took care of a baby fox which was blind, deaf and mute. He taught Helen how to strive to live, and the show portrayed the importance of leading a fulfilled life. We were both gushing about the show for quite a bit after that.

After lunch, it was off to the Police Cantonment Complex to do some stuff. And then we hung around nowhere to spend time together, before heading to Newton Circus hawker center for our planned seafood dinner.

It was there that things went wrong a bit. We both really wanted to have seafood, and had been planning for quite a lot of months. But when we reached the place, it was barricaded, and we realized that either the renovated hawker center hadn't opened yet, or that the stalls weren't opened because it was a Monday.

Slightly disappointed, we still decided to work around things, and had just as good a time at Coffee Bean, sharing two muffins and drinks, and just reminiscing about old times, and how far we've both come.

The whole point of sharing what we did, is to show that though things might go wrong, the most important thing is not the anniversary nor the celebrations themselves. What is important is that each celebration together reveals a simple beauty in the time spent together, remembering and honoring what both of us went through together, and how we helped each other grow.

It is a joyful thing for any two people in a relationship, if they can one day say, "He or she is both my lover and my best friend."

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His gifts:

A collage of all the pictures we took, and times we spent together, made into a jigsaw. His letter is pasted at the back.

A t-shirt printed with the quote: "Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to a new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same." - Flavia Weedn.

8.1 megapixel Samsung camera. >.<

My gifts:

A dreamcatcher I made. A dreamcatcher was the first gift Az gave to me as a friend.

Sand art spraypainted in silver and decorated with a few plants and a shell. Words on it are: "Two strangers staring, yet each seemed familiar; common grounds formed from pain and fear." Lyrics from the song Az and I wrote.

Compilation of all of The Grey Path's entries until August 12, 2006. Our hand- and footprints were included. =)

My letter to him. Designed with feathers, a plant, and a snakeskin we both found.

Misc.:

Cairnhill Community Club: where we talked and decided to give things a try.

Our dinner. LOL.

Nice macro shot of a muffin by Az.

Dinner done.

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A simple celebration, a beautiful day.

Remembering and honoring...

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Added by Azri on 16th August 2006, 2030.

I honestly wanted to add something to this post, but after reading it again, I find there really isn't anything else to add. All I can say is this.

I think it's easy for one to say that the best things in life are the simple ones. Simple dinners. Simple meals. Simple outings. But what I find unfortunately in some relationships is that they use simplicity as an excuse to be a total cheapskate.

Now, it's not that I'm asking anyone to spend a lot on the other or on the relationship. I think it's a little too much to think that a relationship is dependent on the amount spent. Hell no. I think what people need to really do, is find the real meaning of simplicity.

Yeah I know it's a little too easy to just say it. Truth be told, I'm still finding out the simple things that make us happy. But I can say this:

I was happy that day, just having her around, sharing happy moments. That day, we both smiled in a way that both of us should smile more often.

We were happy. And that's what mattered most. =)

Peace.

Casey blew the autumn leaves at 11:30 PM

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Saturday, August 12, 2006

To celebrate this special moment...

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to a new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same." - Flavia Weedn

Fate still has our paths crossed, and amidst all that we've been through, our ups and downs, our joys and sorrows, our tears and laughter, we've still, somehow, managed to still hold each other, and tell the other that he or she is not alone. And I for one, am hoping fate will leave our paths crossed for as long as possible.*hugs tight*. I love you mon cherie. Happy anniversary... =)

Two strangers staring, yet each seemed familiar
Common grounds formed from pain and fear

W|LD_CARD blew the autumn leaves at 12:01 AM

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Friday, August 11, 2006

Current date: August 11, 2006

Current time: 11.30pm

In about 30 minutes more, it'd be August 12, 2006. Exactly one year since Azri and I have gotten together.

After all our posts about such serious topics, we've decided to end off our first year with something a little lighter: quotations about what love is, or should be. =)

Both of us hope that we've been able to share our experiences about how we've handled our relationship in a mature way, and we definitely have learnt some lessons from some of you as well. So this post is also dedicated to you.

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1. You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip.
- Jonathan Carroll, "Outside the Dog Museum"

2. Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Wind, Sand and Stars, 1939, translated from French by Lewis Galantiere

3. We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them, and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.
- Author unknown

4. Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you haven't really learned anything.
- Muhammad Ali

5. Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.
- William Shakespeare, Mid-Summer Night's Dream, 1595

6. Anybody can have sex, but not everyone can handle sex.
- Lilybird

7. Trouble is part of your life, and if you don't share it, you don't give the person who loves you enough chance to love you enough.
- Dinah Shore

8. The biggest obstacle to love, is the secret fear of not being worthy of being loved.
- Jean Pablo Valdes

9. Every lesson is a widening and deepening of consciousness. It is a stretching of the mind beyond its conceptual limits and a stretching of the heart beyond its emotional boundaries. It is a bringing of unconscious material into consciousness, a healing of past wounds, and a discovery of new faith and trust.
- Paul Ferinni

10. Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that.
- Michael Leunig

11. Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true, or beautiful, or good, makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, could be accomplished alone; therefore, we must be saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our own standpoint; therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.
-Reinhold Niebuhr

12. All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon sand.
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

13. He's doing okay. He knows he has support from all of you. Most importantly, he seems to believe that you'll let him fall if he has to, but that you'll be there right beside him. He knows he doesn't have to deal with this on his own. That's the key.
- Lifted from "When I Fall" by Aussie Nightwriter

14. You learn to like someone when you find out what makes them laugh, but you can never truly love someone until you find out what makes them cry.
- Author unknown

15. The ultimate test of a relationship is to disagree but to hold hands.
- Quoted by Alexandra Penney in "Self"

16. Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly.
- Rose Franken

17. Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.
- Bruce Lee

18. Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.
- Swedish Proverb

19. Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
- Marcel Proust

20. You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with.
- Wayne W. Dyer

And, to end off, this is a quote which hit both Az and I deeply:

If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I.
- Michel de Montaigne.

Two strangers staring, yet each seemed familiar
Common grounds formed from pain and fear.

Casey blew the autumn leaves at 11:38 PM

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