Let me tell you all from the very beginning… his name is Phil. How did we meet? Well, I met Phil through cell group. He was a walked-in new cell group member in N116. At that time, we were just cell group member. Being in ET (Edmund Tay) zone’s fastest growing adult cell group, there was always room for cell group outings, be it bowling or “makan” sessions. And he was always the Mr. Nice guy who will go the extra mile and fetch brothers and sisters back home with his old and faithful Suzuki 4-wheeler. Anyway, I only knew his name, ‘Phil’ as the walked-in new cell group member, good-looking and nice. Although he seemed like a pretty decent guy, he didn’t cause much stir in me. All we exchanged were ‘hi-byes’ and that was all it.
Weeks passed, a month passed, and we stayed quite never knowing each other but there were always a lingering feeling inside us. Due to the nature of my work, I was always out of town for business trips and that time when I was back in town, he called and invited me for a badminton session. Since then, we started messaging back and forth. I remembered we got to know each other better when he was on a week of medical leave due to his wisdom tooth surgery and at the same time, I was on study leave. God works in divine timing! With the pain from his wisdom tooth surgery, he still asked me out for lunch and dinner. I didn’t know how painful the surgery was, but I believed that someone who was recuperating will not go for lunch at Café Cartel, a restaurant that sell ribs, seafood, pork chop, etc. If I was the one who was recovering from a tooth surgery, I would certainly just have porridge. As we ate and talked, I studied him. He had what I would call ‘faith’. I could tell that he is a man of God. After the meal, I also offered to help him pick up a new pair of spectacle. At that time, we were just friends, but I knew that I like him “kind of”. I stayed quiet never knowing that at the time, he felt the same about me.
This went on for a while until I was due to fly off for another project in Shanghai, China. A week later into my work, he flew 2,362 miles from Singapore to Shanghai for a holiday. Oh man, I will never forget the extra “homework” he had to do to find his way from Singapore to Shanghai. With his limited Mandarin and not knowing how to read Chinese words, Phil managed to take a magnetic levitation train from Shanghai Pudong International Airport, transfer to MRT, and taxi, and finally arrived at the outskirt of Shanghai. We spent time touring Shanghai interesting venues such as the Bund, Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Yuyuan Garden, Xin Tian Di and the special old streets and lanes. We took long walks by the river and enjoyed the view of Pudong skyline together. It was nothing compared to an hour later when we were back in hotel, I turned to look at him, and we gazed into each other’s eyes. “I like you,” he whispered softly. He continued to run his fingers through my hair and look at me with such a tender expression on his face that I just knew that we both had those heart-fluttering moments. And there and then, we sealed our fates by that choice we made. I knew that he made a sacrifice, flew 2,362 miles from Singapore to Shanghai to bring our relationship to the next steps. And I must say that his trip to Shanghai was well worth it.
Back in Singapore, it was the season of love and relationship, where Pastor Kong was preaching the series of “Making Marriage Works”, and we were one of the couples who did feel the urge to merge. Our love continued to blossom from the time we started our relationship overseas, and 3 months down the road to the end of our sweet “honeymoon” period of dating , he popped the question “will you marry me?” overseas as well when we were at a weekend get-away in Batam, Indonesia. With that, we made that “for better or worse” decision.
We tied the knot on 15 December 2007. What I did not tell him was that, I prayed. I prayed and asked God if he was the right one. God gave me the gift of love, and I made the decision, praise the Lord. Like what Pastor Kong always says: “The second most important decision in your life is whom you choose to marry.” I am glad we have chosen one another. I love you dear!
