four years married and still... paddling?/bo sanchez's fight the relationship drift

i want to share this inspiring article written by one of my favorite authors, bo sanchez, about relationships and on how to take good care of them. it struck a chord on me especially during these days when we have our hands full with work (for jude), housechores (for me), and rearing babies (for both of us) that there’s no time left for ourselves and for each other. admittedly, there were moments when we were only drifting and had never thought to paddle. probably because we thought we’re already doing well as a couple... or because we put the kids on top of our priority list and anything that doesn’t involve them can come later. and it's only when you read articles like this that you are reminded of what else should be on top of our priorities.

 

here's the link: http://bosanchez.ph/fight-the-relationship-drift/

 

last 8^th of october, jude and i celebrated our 4^th wedding anniversary. since i just gave birth and theo was only four-day old then, we were only homebound and just ordered foods and cake for dinner.

 

 

contis' mango bravo cake was what jude brought home for us that night...

promise, adik na ako sa kanya!!!

 

 

it was a simple and yet warm celebration, good enough to cap off the four years that went by and to welcome another year in our married life, with full anticipation for more joys and probably woes… and fights, which i hope aren’t big enough for us to consider annulment. harharhar.

 

for those who’ve been reading our humble blog since i became active in multiply, the titles for my entries about the last two wedding anniversaries we had were always ending in “… marital bliss”. we’re still happily married until now but i won’t deny the fact that, as all married couples do, we also fight or should i say, have misunderstandings. and during those moments that we’re in a tussle, life was not blissful at all! but we take these fights like a bitter medicine which we need to take once in a while as prior and even during these moments, the maladies that have stricken our marriage surfaced and were diagnosed. because if not for these, we won’t be paddling now to the direction where we want to bring our marriage and that is a lifetime with each other.

 

okay... cheesy! :D

 

three years of marital bliss and still counting

before i post the photos which would tell how we spent our third wedding anniversary (in advance), which am sure you know was spent somewhere again, i'd just like to announce that this day, 8 october 2008, marked jude and i's THIRD WEDDING ANNIVERSARY... yihee!

nothing grand was planned to celebrate the day of our union; no fancy dinner, no hotel accommodation, no concert or movie date... our activity tommorow maybe just a walk around the subdivision, or dvd movies marathon perhaps, things that take a little effort and money to do but we end up wondering why it's only done once in a blue moon, like anniversaries. we just want to have the realization that we can still enjoy each other's company without the frills and hefty sums; that we can still find romance in our own house amid the never-ending problems in our household and stress brought by an uber-active kiddo; and that we can make simple acts gestures of our love and care for one another.

why am i saying all these? because am sure that the years ahead of us will find us busier and more stressed, but i just want to make sure that the love and affection which bind us together three years ago are still there...

and i hope that everyday in our married life, it is felt.

on kalibo, boracay and traveling with a toddler in tow

when jude and i were deciding on what destination to take for this year's wedding anniversary, the island of boracay instantly came to mind. you see, we haven't been to this overrated tourist destination and we thought it's high time that we set foot on its white sand beach and see for ourselves how fine and powdery it is. it's like everyone had been to this place except for us! it always came as second choice for us then and it was only this year that we both longed for a boracay trip so that explains. =)

we stayed first in kalibo for one night before we took the ride going to caticlan. we were with iñigo, as usual, so we were very careful with our itinerary trying to have it toddler-friendly as much as possible. but as fate would have it typhoon "ineng" was still in the country last weekend and though it was heading north, the strong gusty winds enhanced the monsoon rain in the western visayas area, boracay included. and i tell you, it was RAINING all day in boracay. we just locked ourselves inside the room and killed time watching cable tv.

we would have been more adventurous and just ignore the rain and the possibility of getting wet if it hadn't been for iñigo. going on a trip with a baby, who's now a toddler, made a big difference on the way we travel... and the loads we need to carry, i must add. for this trip alone, jude had to bring the samsonite luggage and my expedition backpack to accommodate all the necessities (take note: we didn't bring anything unimportant) especially for iñigo, which includes the nebulizer apparatus. and i haven't mentioned the stroller yet which was another bitbitin for the poor daddy. good thing that we bought a lighter one because the graco stroller iñigo was using when he was still an infant is really a heavyweight.

oh well, that's the trade-off i guess for having a kid. we can't even go on an island-hopping or banana boating because that would be risky for us. and yes, we didn't swim nor take a stroll on that day we arrived in boracay because we can't take iñigo out in the rain.

but that was friday. fortunately for us, the weather went better the next morning so we were able to go to the beach after a brief stroll in d' mall. iñigo wasn't in his best mood as he was suffering from a bad cough. we just let him stay in his stroller which we parked along the beach as i read that sea breeze is the best saline solution to remedy a cough. true enough, iñigo's cough calmed down, which made jude to consider buying a beachfront property in batangas. feeling mucho dinero ang daddy! hehe.

we still had a nice time in bora despite the rain, which poured down again btw in the afternoon. jude ogled at the curves covered only by two-piece swimsuits while my eyes feasted on the goodies being sold in shops or by peddlers. i realized at the end of the trip that bora is more of a shopping haven to me than a beach paradise. hahaha! we've already been to honda bay in puerto princesa, el nido, panglao island, and coron and honestly speaking, boracay comes last in the list.

we stayed until sunday afternoon which gave us more time to enjoy the beach. for our meals btw, we survived in boracay because of andoks, goodah, and cindys'. isn't it obvious that we were in tipid mode? =P we only had a grand dinner last saturday night since it wasn't raining anymore and we felt that a bora trip isn't complete without a dine-out in one of its restos. we went as far as station 3 for the buffet dinner with a promo price of php 200 per head. i failed to get the name of the establishment but i left my seat disappointed because their foods were all ordinary to my palate.

talking about restos and foods, we enjoyed them more in kalibo city as we stayed there again sunday night to make ourselves in time for the early monday morning flight back to manila. if you'll get the chance to visit this city, which is famous for its ati-atihan festival every january, i recommend that you eat here:

- perfect combination, formerly known as mix n' match. we tried their baby back ribs and it's good! you can't believe its price because it's only php 100 per serving.

- peking house. this seems to be an old restaurant but i was really raving when the sinigang na hipon was served on our table--i counted the prawns and it's 10 pieces! =D i couldn't believe the prawns are that cheap in this city because i only paid php 95 for it. and mind you, it's delicioso too. with its name, this resto also serves good chinese food.

so okay... that's all for our 2nd wedding anniversary celebration. though we still cap it off last monday night with a nice dinner in paseo de roxas as jude insisted. SWEET!