These last days of summer have afforded me ample time to be idle and dawdle with just about everything I do. I don’t have any valid excuse for this sluggishness other than it’s part of the big adjustment phase I am currently undergoing. With that said, there shouldn’t be a reason why I won’t end my blogging hiatus as I have the luxury of time (for say, a few more lethargic summer days). So thankfully today, I feel like tapping on my seasoned keyboard and see if I still have the juices to write one more sappy article. Just one more.
We haven’t been coy about sharing our love story ( Sunstar: A Love Story; Sunstar: A Love Story (Part II ). It was truly heartwarming that we were able to tug a few heart strings here and there as we braved a long distance relationship through the years, ended up being married, then finally being together, happily, ever after. Or so we wish.
So once again, allow me to indulge (as I also indulge my husband). You see, he believes that the ultimate reason we were so lucky with the quick processing of our ticket to forevermore (or my immigration documents) was that the assessing officer who got to handle our papers is a sappy romantic who loved our story so much that this kindhearted human made no qualms about giving the approval for our application. The embassy requires all these evidence to prove that couples do have a rock solid relationship when a spouse is being sponsored under the family class visa. And boy what a pile we had! Screencaps of our chats, tons of photos, mails, cards, and name all those proof of correspondence we had over the years. We also included those published articles that painted a vivid picture of two souls being so in love despite the distance, time and disastrous interventions that might have had made either of us give up on the relationship. So now my husband thinks I should write one last thing about this, with a shot in the dark thought that this particular immigration officer might know that our story now continues and that we owe it to him or her that we’re now physically together so much sooner than expected.
So yes, after years of being apart and making do with a few days of togetherness each year, I am now getting used to waking up with another person beside me aside from my bears and my dogs. I have now joined him in his shores and now in an entirely different world that is at the same time exciting and scary.
It’s been three months already. And these past few weeks had not been enough for both of us to totally grasp the reality that we’re actually together. A lot of times, my husband asks me if I am really here–taking most of his space (closet, drawer top, shelves and the bed) and I have to keep on reminding him that I’m not an apparition. We’re in a state of bliss but I wish I could say that’s the end of the illusive “happily ever after” that we’re all chasing. It’s not. Back when we were struggling through the long distance set-up, the ultimate goal was to find the means to end the virtual togetherness. And now that we have surpassed that, the more difficult part of the dance has to be learned and mastered.
We could say we’re still in that honeymoon phase and we’ve got the time to be careless, silly and idle. Yet we also know that the bigger responsibilities are just around the corner. Back then, our only worries were how to make the most of our stolen moments that were spanning different time zones. Happiness then was cheap and superficial. Now comes the more serious and more responsible stuff where relationship goals are on an entirely different level.
Clouded in the generic and safe term of ‘settling down’, there’s work to speak of, finances, rebuilding a career, being able to have our own home soon, kids in the not-so-distant future and the scary yet otherwise doable responsibilities that all these entail. I guess the end of our love story is the beginning of another one, but this time with bigger and more serious roles to fill.
For now though, we’re beyond ecstatic chasing the last days of summer, very content with the fact that all the summers after this will be spent together. Thank you to the higher powers…and yes, to that immigration officer. 😉
