Powered by Blog - Widget


Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Love, Love, Love… How We Came To Be

DD and I met practically on the first day of Uni and were good friends for 3 years before we got together. I always tease him that our story starts a little earlier for me than for him -- I have this distinct memory of being at our Uni orientation camp and my camp roommate Jo pointing out DD to me over breakfast one morning and saying “XX (referring to the word emblazoned across DD’s T-shirt) is quite cute.” I remember agreeing with her…

For most of 1st year, we hung out in the same group and became pretty good friends, bonding in particular over desperate last-minute mugging in the library before the 1st year exams… I guess I always did have a thing for him cos we clicked so well – we both have an innate ability to keep ourselves entertained talking about nothing in particular! But he clearly had other “interests”, whom he happily told me about, so I never said/did anything and just remained a friend.

Us1

We drifted a little in 2nd year when we started seeing other people, but as fate would have it, we both ended up in UK on exchange in 3rd year, albeit attending different Universities. He was in Nottingham and I was in Bristol. But while in UK, my calling card company gave me 30 mins worth of free calls to a local UK number every time I topped up my card. And since DD was the only close-ish friend I had in UK, he was the one I called with my free airtime, and we ended up having 30 min conversations every month. Ironically it was during this time in UK that I came to realise how different we are, even as our regular conversations drew us closer to each other. Still, he remained my connection with my “regular life” back in Singapore even as I adapted to life in UK, something I was grateful for. What I didn't realise was that at the same time I was getting these "we are probably not compatible" feelings, he was getting the opposite feelings and starting to think of me as more than just a friend.

The great thing about being on exchange (as all exchange students would know) is the luxury of being able to take cheap holidays to parts of UK and Europe. And having limited time, we all made the most of it. In spring in 2000, DD persuaded me to go on a backpacking trip to Italy with him. And it was on this trip which we took together that stuff happened. It was kinda like this:

Day 1 – DD cues and nudges me across the road
Day 2 – Holding hands to cross the road
Day 3 – Holding hands to cross the road and for a while longer
Day 4 – Holding hands to cross the road and intermittently
Day 5 – Holding hands

Oops!

A word in my defence – the traffic in Rome is, or at least was, at that time - really treacherous because the cars don’t stop for you to cross at all! You just have to step bravely in front of traffic and hope that they stop. Definitely not for the faint-hearted. So you see, having a hand to hold helped.

Till now, Italy remains one of my favourite countries because nothing is more magical than falling in love.

But that’s not the date we celebrate.

22 June 2000 is the day in Paris when, on the 2nd level of the Eiffel Tower (the top level was tragically closed for maintenance), DD asked and I agreed to be his girlfriend. And he did this by giving me the hook that he used to wear around his neck which, to him, signified his independence. We’ve been together ever since.

Us2

******

It's been 12 years since we got together, 7 years since our wedding, and we've gone on the write a whole long other story together.

And yet, when I reached for his hand today, I know I did right to hold on tight when he reached for my hand all those years ago in Rome.


mamawearpapashirt

34 comments:

  1. Anonymous26/9/12 09:20

    I have to say this again, IS THAT HIM??? wow!! so magical to fall in love in Italy indeed! you guys are so sweet lah.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. heh, yes, that's my dear husb. Cute then, and still cute now! :P How not to fall in love in Italy right??

      Delete
  2. awww so chweeet! When it's meant to be, it's meant to be. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks! funny you should say that, because we fought so much during our first year together, we both didn't think we'd make it. but in the end, i guess God meant it to be!

      Delete
  3. Anonymous26/9/12 09:44

    You guys look so thin (and kinda elongated, haha) in the first pic! HAHA very sweet love story and of all places, Paris and Italy! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, I was totally cheating with my platforms! Haha! You're right, we do look kind of weirdly elongated. And thin. Sigh!

      Delete
  4. wow thanks for sharing. I would have thought hook meant you got him hooked. :p

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a romantic story! How special to have both Italy and France (2 most romantic cities) play a memorable part in it all! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, the cities of romance! How not to fall in love right?

      Delete
  6. Romantic! It's so magical to fall in love in a foreign land. It all started with holding hands.. sweet! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. This post brought a smile to my face :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Babe, you were the one who first inspired me to write this in 2005 when you asked me how DD and I got together! I've migrated those old posts off this blog so I went to copy it to re-post :) Nice to re-live the memories!

      Delete
  8. awww thats so sweet! :) how apt he put you on the hook! :) xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Arw! what a lovely love story!! Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Swee! Sweetness!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Very sweet! And on the Eiffel Tower! Did you ask him if he planned it? Or it just felt like the right moment to ask then?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He did plan it, but it was supposed to be at the top of the Effifel tower! Kinda a bummer that it was closed! Lol. You know, he made me walk such a loooooong distance all the way to the Effifel tower, I'm glad there was a reason for it in the end!

      Delete
  12. WAHH what an awesome EXCUSE to hold a girl's hand! Somemore in such a beautiful place like Rome lol

    ReplyDelete
  13. SUch a lomatic love story - in the perfect setting of Europe some more. U guys are so cute together and Noey definitely looks like daddy!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Beautiful story! Wow, you guys have come a long way...Thanks for linking up! your story really warmed my heart!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Awww... such a sweet story!!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous26/9/12 18:56

    What a sweet story, and two of the most romantic city in Europe too!

    ReplyDelete
  17. So sweet! And in such romantic cities some more! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous26/9/12 23:24

    This is beautiful... thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Love love love the story of how you both came together ...!

    (ad I totally could not recognise D!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, he's rounded out quite a bit since then :) But then, so have I!

      Delete
  20. Awww, a very sweet story! This is making me recall about mine :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it's good to reminisce once in a while! Do share! :)

      Delete
  21. So cute lah. You look more or less the same, whereas HE looked like a teenage boy last time, and now looks grown up big lawyer look! hahaha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We've both grown up! So nice of you to say I still more or less look the same. I wish!

      Delete
  22. So sweet! Ah this is a re-post! No wonder I had deja vu reading parts of it! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I wrote it in 2005 though! Were you already reading me then? :)

      Delete
  23. Ha probably! got to your blog from lilsnooze, and that was when I started reading her! ;)

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...