Standard Four

Today marks the first day of the tenth year we've been together. Ten years are not short and if someone were to tell you that ten years are just a blink of an eye away, please feel free to pummel him into a pulp for me.

Like all couples out there, we've been through a lot. The road we've treaded on together for the past decade is full of obstacles but we endured. We prevailed. Friedrich Nietzsche once said "What does not kill me, makes me stronger" and I couldn't agree more.

For the first few years, we had to keep our relationship a secret. I would wake up in the ungodly hours and ran out to the main road just to catch a glimpse of waifu waiting for her school bus. To the other girls across the road, I may looked like an idiot. Waifu couldn't acknowledge my presence by waving her hand or anything but her smile certainly made me a happy idiot. From a blue pinafore to a blue skirt, these were our good mornings to each another.


The first time we were photographed together.

We seldom got to go out together. For the few times we managed to sneak out, we had to avoid the crowd and keep it low. Shopping complexes were a big no-no and they were too noisy anyway. We needed somewhere quiet to talk, to open up to each another.


Large boulders make good couple seats.

Initially, we tried hiking. It was fun but tiring and time consuming. By the time we found ourselves a good spot, the sun was almost up in its glory. Lulled by the cool hill breeze, waifu soon drifted into her own dreamworld, pillowing on my shoulder. The sun was not letting up and being the gentleman, I shielded her with an umbrella, only to suffer from sore shoulders for the rest of the week. To see her snuggly sleeping face up close, that was indeed priceless!

We then tried the beach and it remained our most favourite rendezvous for many years to come.


I build and she demolishes sandcastles.


Dancing in the shades.

Neither of us can afford a camera so we pooled our savings and once we had accumulated enough, we bought ourselves a single-use camera. Even though the quality was laughable - the body itself was made out of cardboard - the photos it captured held a lot of memory for the both of us.


Our first picture perfect came from the very last film frame.

Ahh... reminiscing the good old days sure feel good, eh? I can go on forever but I have to put a stop here or else I shall have nothing to write when we hit another decade later. :D Anyway, waifu just gave me a humongous surprise two weeks back.


A platinum ring to pair with the solitaire ring that I proposed her with.

Judging from the width of the ring, I'm pretty sure it cost her a bomb and being the kind that appreciates financial stability more than anything, she must have hesitated for some time before taking such a big leap of faith. It was something so unexpected that my face almost went BSOD.

And did I mention that the ring was of the right size and required no further alteration? Awesome!

I guess I'm not too bad either. Among the many things I pride myself in, one of them would be to correctly guess the right shirt size for waifu without having her around to test them out.


A Hush Puppy baby tee...


... and a matching box.

Mind you, it wasn't easy for me to go around hunting for these gifts. I was literally fidgetting all over the place before I finally came out like Mr. Parker below:



Happy 10th Anniversary WAIFU!

I look forward to the many years and decades to come. :)