Aposhark.. thanks for the kind words there! As we get nearer to April it is all beginning to fall into place. I have to say the experience has so far felt very 'virtual'but as you say, when you get together with someone and spend real time with each other, that is the 'magic' time! Unlike the other aspects of organising a holiday, the 'shopping list' can't prepare you for how the first meeting with your love is going to feel. I think I mentioned elsewhere the feeling another person expressed on another forum when he got together with his Malaysian girlfriend after a year of chatting. He said it was the strangest feeling to meet with someone who was both a physical stranger and yet at the same time an emotional partner. I get the feeling I'm going to have similar goosebumps..
Forums are usually places for hotly-contested debate, but I think I've found the first one where through all the up's and down's, pretty much everybody considers themselves the luckiest person who ever lived!
Englishman2010 - Worry not about all the naysayers eh!? We all seem to have these stresses to contend with. I suppose there will always be some measure of security from a Filipina's point of view - if the roles were reversed for the 'doubters', that would change from a 'negative' to a 'positive point of empathy' VERY QUICKLY I think! Although the west is not the haven of 'eternal utopian bliss' it may be painted as, I'm sure life is generally more calm and less extreme than many countries - we do seem to enjoy a more modest display of 'daily life' even when it's doing it's worst. There's perhaps still the interracial element too that some individuals can't get around.. the one constant spear of the masses, many of whom likey haven't tried reaching beyond their own social circle (pushed and pulled by social engineering?? oops, might have another controvertial thread there..?
I see it like this. As Aposhark says, Life is NOT a rehearsal. There are many things we can manage perfectly well without - love ISN'T one of them. When covering the matter of my travelling halfway around the world for a 'possibility', I recall telling my mahal that love should never be passed up lightly. For me, I believe you should keep the woman you love in your heart, live and laugh in every moment, try to show her every day how much you love her - kiss and cuddle her, make her feel every bit as special as she really is (ladies, coming from an honourable man believe me when I say that try as 'we' might, if as men we are truly in love we will never manage this to our satisfaction, ever) and keep doing so, until the curtain falls..
How good a life is that!?
Peace!
