A snap back to reality shakes me up. Busyness should never be a constant – I’ve always fought hard for that ideal work life balance and thought I was pretty good at juggling it, up until now. When a few friends (individually) told me, “You’re always so busy, I have to tell you way in advance if we want to meet up.” When picking up a book to read seems more like luxury than leisure, when technology grows on me like a parasite and when my journal has more empty than scribbled pages…

This has got to change. Soon.

We spent several weekends trying on wedding gowns in Malaysia and then a weekend in Bangkok actually buying the dress of my dreams. We lugged it all the way to Melbourne for our pre-wedding shots and back again to the laundry for dry cleaning. I stepped into it for my last time on our wedding day, two years ago. Since then, it’s been sitting in my study sealed in a vacuum packed bag hardly making its presence known if it weren’t for the occasional major spring cleaning every 3 months or so.

So I’ve made my decision to sell my wedding gown, banished the thought of passing it onto my daughter(s) and accepting the fact that when it is time for them to be wed, it will probably be the most old-fashioned thing in town.

It’s going to be on sale here.

We’ve reached yet another milestone in our marriage, though our wedding was 2 years ago, the celebration continues (everyday). It’s been an incredible adventure thus far. Sure we have our squabbles, rifts and not-so-great-days, but conflicts only makes us a better person, a stronger couple – if we choose to work through it. One of the things that amaze me most about Terence is his passion and sincerity to work this marriage. Honeymoon years are great, feeling all fuzzy and warmth in the new found union – time passes quickly too but for a marriage to last, it takes lots of work and effort to prepare for turbulent times. I’m ever grateful to have a husband which sure foresight to challenge us to greater depth and heights.

Over the last 2 years, we’ve reached our lifelong dream to travel to 2 continents, made a new list of destinations to conquer, created our own set of rules at No.8 (for example, if Terence cooks, Deb doesn’t enter the kitchen, if she does she’d end up complaining at how messy it is) and learned which buttons to push and which to stay clear of.

We’ve learned that loving without holding back makes us vulnerable to each other but almost always, it opens an opportunity for us to receive more than we can ever give. How true when the Bible says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). I love the Maker and Author of marriages! My deepest desire is for this marriage to be a reflection of Him – His love and character.

After being away for so long, I would imagine that our house would feel foreign, our plants would somewhat wither, the letters overflowing and lizard poop polka doting the walls. But we were wrong! We came home to an oh-so-familiar place we called home. The sheets clean, pillows as we left them, floors spanking clean and no trace of lizard poop.

Our families gave us the best welcome gift, aside from overbearing hugs, kisses and beaming faces at the airport – they helped clean our home!!! Fresh flowers took center piece at the dining table and fresh new curtains hand-sewn and fitted for our kitchen. We love them to bits!

Since our fridge looked pathetically empty, we decided to do some grocery shopping. What should be a usual activity turned out rather peculiar. I was in for an economic shock as I gawked and awed at the prices of items here in Malaysia. Yoghurt for RM5? Bread for RM4? Cheese for RM12? Unbelievable to my purse’s delight, I was like a girl grabbing at everything that took my fancy and dropping it into the shopping cart.

Then I was up for another gastronomic shock. After touching down, we headed straight for breakfast at a local coffeeshop. I ordered my favourite Wan Tan Mee and finished it in no time. Later for dinner we had a Malaysian spread of fried rice, bah kut teh, assam fish and veggies. Little did I know that my stomach had not prepared itself for gastronomical buffet. I found myself visiting the toilet umpteen times for the next few days. Needless to say, it was a mild case of ‘Malaysian diarhoe’.