of memoirs and musings

You could grow up in the same town, attend the same primary school, go to rival secondary schools, hate each other’s guts like how Anne hated Gilbert in Anne of Green Gables and go your separate ways to chase your dreams: you to the UK and him, to Singapore. Yet, you became pen-pals for three years and return to marry him, the quiet steady man whose sincere heart spoke volumes although he doesn’t have a single rubber tree to his name.

You could hail from Sri Lanka and she, from Serbia, two strangers with such different backgrounds. Yet by chance or perhaps, fate, you meet and fall in love in Singapore, discover how wonderfully similar you both are and embark upon a courageous relationship across the continents and the cultural and religious divide.

You could meet him as a potential match in the veins of the traditional arranged marriage, like each other and have your horoscopes scrutinized for celestial alignment and agreement; only to be rejected by his family because one out of four horoscope readings does not match. Yet, you fall in love anyway, secretly and cautiously date and know in your hearts how right you are for each other while you navigate the conservative traditions, families and community.

You could bump into him at the kid’s pool in Mimaland, see him shop with his parents at Makro, notice him as you spoke to his friends in school, watch him play guitar in the band at church, know him as a senior in university and never see him again in the next few years, save for the occasional phone call or e-mail across the distance. Yet one phone call leads to another, cordial conversations become intimate sharing sessions and before you know it, you have fallen for him for as long as you can remember.

You could see him everyday, work with him, have lunch and sometimes, dinner together, watch him admire and have crushes on other girls, observe his virtues, idiosyncracies and flaws, perhaps understand him more than he does himself; only to merely be just his friend. You could pine for his love in silence long enough till your tears dried up and you demand your right to know if there could be something more.

You could be college sweethearts, see each other through the thick and thin, live for each other, work to make your dreams come true, get engaged after seven momentous years; only to have a bitter break-up, become strangers and see her marry someone else in less than a year after.

Sometimes, it’s all written in the stars.
Sometimes, you give it your all because perhaps, you’ve only got this one chance.
Sometimes, you can’t help falling and worry about the future later.
Sometimes, you amaze yourself how much you can love and be loved.
Sometimes, taking that risk is worth everything.
Sometimes, it just wasn’t meant to be.

Love, it is as amazing as it is perplexing.