Waiting For Life to Begin
I am getting used to wearing my engagement ring everyday. Although I noticed that it has been getting looser and looser, to the point where I will have to have to send it off to be resized. I will need to get my finger sized properly so that I don't lose this ring! Maybe it has something to do with me losing 11 lbs lately. Hmmm.
The parental units were here over the weekend, with the Little and Littlest Brother. San Francisco is their normal stopover when they go "home" to Manila or "home" to Canada. Home is either place, thus the quotation marks.
Mom arrived on a Friday, and Dad on a Sunday. When I got this news, I was a little worried. After all, my Mom has been known to freak over any news that involves me not being hers forever (i.e. when I introduced R as a serious boyfriend and when she got wind of news that R was going to propose). In fact, I was so worried that I kept calling Manila, asking to speak to Mom in order to make sure she was okay, asking my cousin's help in easing her into the idea of me getting married, and asking my Dad to please please calm her down.
She was way too busy packing and I never got to talk to her, which increased my stress about picking her up and having her freak out on me at the sight of the ring. My cousin reported that my Mom's answer to the news of my engagement was "I don't think I'm ready for my daughter to be married" and my brothers told me that Mom was avoiding the topic altogether.
I even toyed with the idea of sending the ring off to be resized, so that there will be no ring for Mom to see when she arrived. But since Mom is also a jewelry geek like I am, I figure she will appreciate the diamond's awesome specs and how pretty the setting was. I decided to sell the ring on the quality, then ease her into the idea of me getting married because, damnit, I'm getting old and next thing she knows, I will be on menopause and she will never have grandchildren from me.
True enough, Mom was a little resistant to the idea when I picked her up. She didn't want to discuss it too much. She said she wasn't ready. I decided not to push the topic and wait for my Dad to arrive that Sunday to discuss...
But on Saturday Morning, Mom calls me to the breakfast table and told me she has a present for me.
She took out small plastic bags with a sight I knew only too well. She was going to give me jewelry.
Given my Mother has been in the business of jewelry since I was five years old, this was not surprising to me. In fact, she's been trying to give me jewelry since then and I've always resisted because I never really cared for bling. (Most kids don't. Especially if you grow up having to price dozens and dozens of rings, bracelets, chains pendants and earrings everyday on your summer vacation from fourth grade onwards.)
But I sensed something different with this piece of jewelry. Mom took out the pair of earrings, held them up and said "Do you like them?"
I was floored. They were extremely gorgeous vintage cut diamond drop earrings in white gold. Bloody gorgeous. Of course I liked them. But I had nowhere to go that I needed to wear something so fancy.
"I designed them for you. For your wedding," she said.
Then, she pointed out the larger stones, the vintage cut diamonds. "These stones? Remember I asked you to sort out my collection of stones after you finished your gemology course? These are the stones you picked. I've collected these stones for twenty five years, for you."
I am tearing up as I am writing this, just the same when she told me that.
My Mother. The earrings. The perfect pre-wedding moment. It made me realize that no matter what happens, I will always be my Mother's daughter. That, and my Mom has a wicked penchant for designing jewelry.
. . .
In other news, I could be booking my venues right now, but I can't. Darn Immigrations. Taking too bloody long to approve my case. *Sigh*. It's amazing how a government agency can have such a tangible effect on your life in a way most people can never imagine.
I don't want to worry about it. But I do. I am worried. That decision will determine the rest of my life. And until that decison comes out, my life is temporarily put on hold.
But for now, I can't do anything but wait for my life to begin.
The parental units were here over the weekend, with the Little and Littlest Brother. San Francisco is their normal stopover when they go "home" to Manila or "home" to Canada. Home is either place, thus the quotation marks.
Mom arrived on a Friday, and Dad on a Sunday. When I got this news, I was a little worried. After all, my Mom has been known to freak over any news that involves me not being hers forever (i.e. when I introduced R as a serious boyfriend and when she got wind of news that R was going to propose). In fact, I was so worried that I kept calling Manila, asking to speak to Mom in order to make sure she was okay, asking my cousin's help in easing her into the idea of me getting married, and asking my Dad to please please calm her down.
She was way too busy packing and I never got to talk to her, which increased my stress about picking her up and having her freak out on me at the sight of the ring. My cousin reported that my Mom's answer to the news of my engagement was "I don't think I'm ready for my daughter to be married" and my brothers told me that Mom was avoiding the topic altogether.
I even toyed with the idea of sending the ring off to be resized, so that there will be no ring for Mom to see when she arrived. But since Mom is also a jewelry geek like I am, I figure she will appreciate the diamond's awesome specs and how pretty the setting was. I decided to sell the ring on the quality, then ease her into the idea of me getting married because, damnit, I'm getting old and next thing she knows, I will be on menopause and she will never have grandchildren from me.
True enough, Mom was a little resistant to the idea when I picked her up. She didn't want to discuss it too much. She said she wasn't ready. I decided not to push the topic and wait for my Dad to arrive that Sunday to discuss...
But on Saturday Morning, Mom calls me to the breakfast table and told me she has a present for me.
She took out small plastic bags with a sight I knew only too well. She was going to give me jewelry.
Given my Mother has been in the business of jewelry since I was five years old, this was not surprising to me. In fact, she's been trying to give me jewelry since then and I've always resisted because I never really cared for bling. (Most kids don't. Especially if you grow up having to price dozens and dozens of rings, bracelets, chains pendants and earrings everyday on your summer vacation from fourth grade onwards.)
But I sensed something different with this piece of jewelry. Mom took out the pair of earrings, held them up and said "Do you like them?"
I was floored. They were extremely gorgeous vintage cut diamond drop earrings in white gold. Bloody gorgeous. Of course I liked them. But I had nowhere to go that I needed to wear something so fancy.
"I designed them for you. For your wedding," she said.
Then, she pointed out the larger stones, the vintage cut diamonds. "These stones? Remember I asked you to sort out my collection of stones after you finished your gemology course? These are the stones you picked. I've collected these stones for twenty five years, for you."
I am tearing up as I am writing this, just the same when she told me that.
My Mother. The earrings. The perfect pre-wedding moment. It made me realize that no matter what happens, I will always be my Mother's daughter. That, and my Mom has a wicked penchant for designing jewelry.
. . .
In other news, I could be booking my venues right now, but I can't. Darn Immigrations. Taking too bloody long to approve my case. *Sigh*. It's amazing how a government agency can have such a tangible effect on your life in a way most people can never imagine.
I don't want to worry about it. But I do. I am worried. That decision will determine the rest of my life. And until that decison comes out, my life is temporarily put on hold.
But for now, I can't do anything but wait for my life to begin.