2 and 1/2 years and going strong...

Jojie and I had a very petty fight last night which ended with him going home and me staying at the office. I had to work but with my mind distracted from the "fight", I took time to surf the net (supposedly to clear my mind but I was really just playing hooky). Kakatawa kasi kaka-bloghop ko (I do not read clients' blogs eh but I do read my ka-batch sa W@W plus my fellow suppliers' blogs) umabot ako sa wedding website namin and I was able to read our story... like how we met and how we ended up together and how he proposed. I remember the time that I was doing that website, I didn't know anything about website making... kapa-kapa lang. This also made me realize how arte a bride I was and how much time I had in my hands during my wedpreps days! LOL!

I think I'm pretty lucky that Jojie and I are doing really well in our marriage. We've been married for two and half years and I know super dami pa naming pagdadaanan but I'm so proud of the things we've achieved so far.

I remember arguing over my schedule during the first few months of our marriage. Di ba ang usapan homemaker ako? To begin with, hindi naman ako super duper malinis sa house. Unlike Jojie's mom who did general cleaning every week (no kid!), sa bahay namin hindi ganun. Eh during our first few months, super maayos ako (hahaha! best foot forward) but when I started getting busy, napapabayaan ko na.

When we were able to resolve this and Jojie kinda acepted that I was busy (you have to remember that I didn't work during the wedpreps so wala talaga ako ginagawa tapos bigla akong nagkatrabaho na gabi ang meetings at weekends ang pinaka-stressful na araw so exagg talaga), naging super okay na kami. During that time, we bought Arci/Arcy na. Arci/Arcy (sorry can't remember the right spelling right now) is our Honda Civic. Kaya Arci/y kasi the plate number is JGC which stands for Jojie and Ging's Civic. Arci/y is its nickname kasi Our Civic... Arcivic... Arci... Gets? LOL!

I was so happy during that time. Feeling ko paunti-unti nakaka-pundar na kaming mag-asawa. We pooled our savings for the downpayment and ang saya talaga. Then Jojie was paralyzed and was subsequently diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. Ay! Umikot ang mundo ko. Totoo pala na nawawala ang saysay ng lahat pag nagkakasakit yung mga mahal mo. That particular time when we were waiting for the diagnosis and ilang beses kaming nagpa-confine was the most difficult period in my life. Wala pa kaming isang taon mag-asawa nun tapos ganun na. :(

January of 2006, Jojie had his thyroid ablated. So hindi na siya mapa-paralyze uli. Yehey! Akala ko okay na but we were in for another round of complications. According to statistics, a significant number of patients who have their thyroids ablated develpp hypothyroidism ten to twenty years after the procedure. Syempre ang asawa ko overachiever... two months after inalisan ng thyroid may hypothyroidism naman. Hypothyroidism is usually accompanied by weight gain (ay! from 180lbs before the wedding, he reached 220lbs during the peak of hy hypothyroidism), lethargy, sluggishness, weakness, memory loss, etc. Although he was taking a thyroid supplement, tagal bago na-regulate his thyroid hormone levels. This period made me realize how strong my husband is. Kung nahirapan siya sa hyperthroidism, mas nahirapan siya sa hypo pero kahit alam kong hirap na hirap siya, he kept on going. Ang hirap pero kaya... kayang-kaya.

Then last November, my coordination team was named one of 2006 Top Ten Wedding Suppliers of the Year. Haaay super dream come true! A few people know this but I was a W@Wie when the first W@Wie Awards was held and I distinctly remember seeing Jody being given her medal for being one of the Top Ten Suppliers that time and I distinctly remember telling myself that I will enter the wedding industry and I will be named one of the Top Ten Suppliers. So being named one of the Top Ten was really a big thing for me. Yun lang ang pangarap ko at pakiramdam ko pwde na akong mag-"retire". Hahaha!

Jojie was really happy for me. Aside from our fight re my schedule during the first few months he was really very supportive of my newfound career. Andun siya pag may meetings ako... well, he didn't sit with me and my clients LOL but he made me sundo everytime gabi na ako. Siya nag-a-absorb ng stress ko. Pag umiiyak ako sa stress, he hugged me. He was a major, major reason for our team's win (syempre bukod sa staff and sa clients and sa fellow suppliers).

But after that really happy period, I realized that the stress I go through during weddings was not worth it kasi nag-iiba na akong tao. Parang hindi na ako counselor, hindi na ako life-giving the way naghihigpit ako sa members ko. And this was when I decided to take a step back. I thought really long and hard. Gusto ko pa ba ituloy ito or gusto ko na tapusin na lang lahat ng commitments ko? I didn't entertain inquiries at all. Deadma na kung sabihan ng nang-iisnab kaysa tumaggap ako only for me to just quit in the end. Ang tagal kong nag-isip. Masaya pa ba ako? Jojie encouraged me to REALLY think. And I realized that events planning made me happy and so I decided to continue working. Buti na lang Jojie still supported my decision. However, although we were generally doing fine, the sould-searching prompted me to instill several changes in the way we handle things para mas efficient and mas makatulong sa couples. Ako kasi when I do something, never half-hearted, so since I decided to go through with wedding planning, aayusin ko pa lalo.

During this time of soul-searching, Jojie and I put up our own fire extinguisher manufacturing business. Weird no? Hahaha! But Jojie grew up with his dad being in this business and he has such a passion for it that I supported him kahit na nung una hindi ko talaga naiintindihan kung bakit fire extinguishers of all things. Hahaha! I remember when Jojie told me about his plans of putting up this business, he also asked my permission. Ang tanong ko lang, "Sigurado ka ba, hon?" He replied with conviction, "Yes". And I told him na susuportahan ko siya.

Ngayon, we're doing okay... I'm still in the process of instilling the changes that I want in the team (Do you know, I so love working with my team? Super ko sila love talaga.) and Jojie's busy with his work as a stock market analyst and we're both trying to boost sales for our firex company. We're doing really good and I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful husband. I thank God everyday for giving me Jojie. And after 30 months of being married, masaya pa rin to wake up next to him. We go on dates and we love spending time with each other. Pag iniisip ko yung buhay namin so far, parang walang panahon na walang major thing happening... pero alam ko din na ano pa man yung dumating, sigurado ako na kakayanin namin. Kasi ganun lang yun.

:)