Next month.

It was a friend who told me today, “Wai Jia, you’re getting married next month,” that I realized the gravity of what those words meant.

Just months ago, the two of us saw no possibility of us getting married anytime soon. After all, we had only met, I would not have the chance to meet his parents  in Canada and my parents had been vehemently against our union, after the realization that he’s a missionary and not a doctor, and with a liver transplant too.

But here we are, with the day we’ve been looking forward to, the day which we pined and prayed and looked forward to in anticipation because of all the mountainous challenges we’ve had to surpass, actually… coming.

His parents met me over Skype once and wrote me to say they were more than happy to see me next on our wedding day itself- they would fly from Canada to see us; my parents’ hearts softened from seeing Cliff’s genuity and we found ourselves learning about communication, love and respect from many books people had blessed us with, saving ourselves much heartache from brutal headknocking.

Next month, I will be Mrs Tam.

Today, I cried. I cried after our photoshoot with the bridal studio because when I put on the white gown today and had makeup done on me, I suddenly realized that yes, I’m getting married. My life will be shared with someone else, my future will be entwined with another and my body, not my own anymore. I cried, because I thought, with me having only started working about a year ago and he, being sustained by a missionary’s allowance, we could never have the chance of doing what everyone does for a wedding- but there we were at the bridal studio having our photos taken because my father had bought us a wedding package on promotion. I cried, because while I’d always found the thought of taking wedding photos intolerably mushy and cliché, I realized it was special because we were doing it. I cried because of the unexpected wave of emotion that washed over me when I realized that no matter how many weddings I thought I’d seen or heard about, it was happening to us and that meant something different.

Next month, I’ll be getting married. I’ll be launching my third book on that day, and we’ll be sharing the story of how we met.

Everyone is invited. Do drop us a note at our website if you’d like to join us on this occasion.

Thank you, God.