How to Make Your Love Last a Lifetime

Today is my parents 56th wedding anniversary. We had celebrated their golden wedding anniversary back in 2010 with a simple renewal of vows and a party with family and friends at home. It is going to be a milestone year for me as I have been asked to be a godmother for two weddings. I honestly got freaked out the first time I got asked and it took about a year before I was ready to accept an invitation.

My parents imparted on us the seriousness of marriage. As the old saying goes, "Hindi yan tulad ng mainit na kanin na pwede mo na lang iluwa" (It's not like newly cooked rice that you could just spit out). Your love should go hand in hand with commitment.

I never saw my parents fight when I was growing up. The only time I saw them not talk to each other was after their golden wedding anniversary. For three days they did not talk to each other and refused to say why. I panicked and called up my siblings to let them know. It was a bizarre experience. And then on the third day they just started talking again and explained that they had forgotten about what they had argued about. My Mom explained to me later after Dad passed away that they would fight, but agreed to never show it to us.

My parents were great role models for me. I had stumbled a couple of times along the way, but my Mom always reminded me that when I find a spouse he should have the same values as we had. I remember making a very long list of the ideal guy. The only item that Sweetie didn't get was to have straight hair (haha). Finding the right one is another story I will tell on another day, but here's a list of bilins from my parents before I got married and some stuff I've picked up from them.


1. Put God at the center of your family.
2. Always settle your differences before you sleep.
3. Give and take. Negotiate.
4. Talk, always. Laugh everyday and be playful.
5. Be on time all the time. Follow the 5Ps.
6. Be happy to be in each other's company and do things together. (My parents rarely went out and were always together).
7. Share your friends!
8. Budget very wisely.
9. Live simply.
10. Family first.


My parents lived a very simple life. We lived on a bungalow with lots of space which took my parents 15 years to pay. We rarely took out of the country family trips (only 3) and usually stayed with relatives. Their idea of a family vacation was taking a rode trip to go to our hometown in Bicol where we'd live in a nipa hut by the beach. Our home was also like a mini-farm. We had fruits and veggies growing in our backyard and had chickens, quail, kuhol, dogs, cats, birds, fish etc. as well. Eating out was a luxury. We were simply just together all the time.

We are far from being a perfect family, but my parents strong marriage always kept us together. Their original wedding date was supposed to be January 2, 1960, but because of a very strong typhoon they had to move it the next day. Their marriage may have started from a disaster, but their resilience and their commitment made it strong and a love that is forever. 

Happy 51st Wedding Anniversary to my Mom and Dad!

Time flies, it was just a year ago that we celebrated my Mom and Dad's golden wedding anniversary. It was a simple celebration. We married them off again and then had the reception at Mom's garden together with family and their close friends.

Fifty one years is looooong! And I can just dream about celebrating that number with Jay, fifty years from now. If we do reach that age Miguel will probably have to wheelchair me to the altar or I'll be walking with a cane by then (that is if my heart's still beating by then). Anyway, my parents have definitely played out beautifully throughout the years their wedding vow -

To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.

I never sensed any trouble or misunderstanding between my parents, although my Mom claims that they do fight. The one and only time I saw them give each other the silent treatment was a month before I got married. It lasted about three days and I had to do an SOS to my sister. She called and my parents talked and then said that they had forgotten what their tampuhan was about!

Here's my parents' formula to a successful marriage:

1. Put God at the center of your marriage. Pray always.
2. Love each other everyday. Do all things with love.
3. Be patient.
4. Always settle any trouble before sleeping.
5. Live simply.

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!

Happily Ever After

Happy new year everyone!

The past couple of weeks have been really crazy with major things happening and I haven't had any time to sit down and blog about all those exciting things.

Here's a glimpse anyway:

1. Sweetie and I tied the Knot!

Photo from one of my nieces (not sure whose cam)

We purposely did not blog about the preparations because we wanted to surprise our family and friends with our plans. Despite our busy schedules we managed to do everything for our wedding on our own with help from dear friends and family. All the effort paid off since everyone said that it was a beautiful wedding.

It was a magical day and before the church doors opened I said, "This is it!", took a deep breath, smiled and walked down the aisle towards the altar. It was Miguel who walked me first and then my parents brought me to Sweetie. I'm glad I managed to hold back my tears the whole time. I'm so excited to see the photos next week!

Special thanks to our parents, our family and friends who helped us make it a beautiful wedding (more details to follow in another post).

More photos here and on the day video here.

Janette's post
Jayvee's post
Juned's photos
Karla and Sha's video
Jude's photos (in FB)
Buddy's video and post (from the videographer's POV)
Mica's post (at NyokNyok)

2. We have moved to a new home!

We went home to our new home the day after the wedding. We decided to delay our honeymoon a bit so we could fix our new home. It's really exciting! Took us a couple of days to finish opening our gifts and figuring out what stuff we still needed. Things are settling a bit save for our wayward Samsung washing machine which keeps strutting around the laundry area and our electric stove which we're still scared to try out again.

We're blogging our new adventures at "Mabuhay ang Bagong Kasal". The new blog still needs a lot of sprucing up, but we're slowly putting in some posts as we go along. Sweetie's big move from Marikina also inspired us to start a new blog about "Paranaque City Life".

3. Happily Ever After

Fairy tales do come true and my parents are the living proof to that. We celebrated last weekend their golden (fiftieth) wedding anniversary. It was a joyful milestone for our whole family and I'm happy to report that everyone was present for the occasion. Hopefully I'll find some time this week to edit some videos I took from the celebration.

Photo by (Kuya) Luke Esteban.

I haven't thought about any new year's resolutions yet since I'm starting a new book (not just a chapter) in my life. The new role "wife" is already a biggie and I think that's something that's going to be central for the whole year.

God bless you!