Saturday, June 18, 2011

The Pearl Ring



Well, here's the story about a pearl ring.

Its tradition, according to Brian's mum, that in his family, when the son marries, he has to give his bride a pearl ring, aside to the diamond ring and this pearl ring is a symbol of his heart. Its like he has given his heart as a symbol of his love, to his bride. And in the event the marriage breaks down somewhere along the way, she must always return the ring, as in the pearl ring, and its pretty much like returning his heart and letting him go so that he is free to love again. I know its a tradition in Italy where the guy gives the girl a pearl but never mind....we're talking bout the Hughes's family tradition here.

So basically, Brian and I, our marriage never made it past 6 months...

And guess what! His mum called me weeks ago and spoke about the ring. Thankfully, I hadn't sold it or its like selling Brian's heart to the store. Hahaha..So, back in May, on my way back from Wembley after Man Utd lost to Barcelona, I stopped by Ireland and met up with Brian. Pretty much gave back his heart and let him go for the last time but for once, we were able to sit down for a quiet and peaceful dinner and a nice warm chat. The feeling was surreal. I mean, ever since the marriage in Dec, we hadn't had dinner together even once in Singapore, neither did we have a peaceful chat without yelling at one another or making faces. I mean, way back in Singapore, it was like we're both invisible to one another. He comes home, he goes to the room and there he goes for the night while I'm out watching tv or snacking in the kitchen. Yeah, seriously for once, he asked me if I would love to catch the Singtel F1 with him this year. And I was like, I thought you gave up on F1.

So, I was pretty amazed and is still by the power of the pearl ring...

Reflections

Sitting by the window on the edge of my bed, with the laptop next to me and the phone in my hand, I look out of the window and what do I see? The moon...full moon it seems and its been that way for the past 3 days, and so you got me! I've been staring at the moon for the past 3 days from my bed, and I just felt so curious, and I wondered and wondered...what was life on the moon like? Is it just as stressful as it was down on Earth? So stressful and worrying that you wished you were never born? Looking at the moon and wondering what life there was like brought me back to those olden days, early 90s', my childhood, teenage years when life was just full of excitement, new stuff and when there was nothing to worry about.....

Life back then was awesome although it was pretty much routine based. You know, like getting up at 10am every morning, go downstairs and breakfast is ready by the table. And oh, did I mention that I get whatever I want for breakfast. That was how much granny used to pamper me. She used to wake up like 6am in the morning and head out to the market by 7am and back home by 10am, just as I am about to get my ass off bed. My mother would be around as well but she's like normally busy with school work and my dad, well, he's out working hard and usually gets off to work at about 7am and back at about 9pm. So, its basically life with granny most of the time. So, I wake up at 10am, have breakfast, then watch some cartoons (oh yeah, they used to have great cartoons back then), then take my bath and the school bus usually comes by 12.30pm, so its off to school. My mum normally leaves for school at about the same time so sometimes, well, I just pretend to have a tummy ache, miss the bus and have mum bring me to school. And she will normally yell at me for pulling off this nonsense but hell yeah, way back then, having your mum take you to school is like a Hollywood celebrity. Seriously. Everyone would look up to you and respect you like the queen. So its school during the afternoon and then normally, my mum will bring me home from school, say about 7pm and straight to the dinner table. I was a glutton back then, so dinner before shower. So after dinner, shower then homework time and those shitty schools, they really give loads of homework. Usually, dad comes home when I'm doing my homework, so I get to chat with him for a while before he hits the bed. And since I'm a lazy pig, I'm normally in bed by 11pm, well normally by then mum would chase me to bed...

Ahh!! It was those days. Looks so routine based but it was FUN. I mean, I don't have to worry about money, food bla bla bla...

And then there were the dreams. Well, normally in Form 4 and 5, the teachers will always ask the students what their plans are for the future and what do they want to be when they grow up. And you always hear the same old answers, Lawyer, Doctor, Engineer, Architect, Accountant...and then when you're older, you realized one day that you're not what you had wanted to be. Hey, guess what! It happens all the time....I mean, look at me. When I was 16, I told my teacher proudly that "My ambition is to be a lawyer". So where am I today? I did Law in college, I graduated with a Second Class Upper, I have my Masters in Law today but still, I'm not a lawyer, am I? Well, I was a Customer Service Executive, a QA Specialist, a Business Operations Executive, and oh a Personal Assistant to a CEO....though it wasn't in my dream list, but I chose what I chose because of the money. Its not easy when you have bills and credit cards and loans and bla bla bla to pay each month.

You know, every morning, as I wake up, I normally sit on the edge of my bed, look up into the sky, close my eyes and pray to God that today would be better than yesterday. And then as I take my shower, have my coffee and drive to work, in my mind, I kept thinking about work work and work and then money money and money. For me, its simple, for every time I charge my credit card for something, I have to make enough money the next day to cover for it. Its that simple, but the ways to make that money.....its just stressful. And then when you get the pay cheque at the end of the month, you have to make all the payments and by the end of it, you notice that you have a couple hundred of dollars left for the month! And then you worry about this and that and emergencies...Argh!

And then as we grow older, there's something called LOVE, besides money. Its just a 4 letter word but it can really destroy you. Trust me. I've been in and out of love, way too many times, the heart breaks and tears, oh my...it can really kill. I mean, obviously we've read in the papers on how people die for love. That's how tragic love can be....but then as we grow older and lonelier, we worry. Worry that you might not find love. Worry that no men out there would make you his wife. Worry that you might die alone...

See, we start to worry after a certain age but as soon as it starts, it doesn't stop until the day we die. So, honestly, I do sit back and reflect on the past sometimes...my childhood. A carefree and awesome childhood...Sigh