When You're In My Arms...

I would think it's kinda obvious that I like songs, and different ones at that, with special mention to some Ballads and Oldies, which are now better (or more politically correctly?) known as Standards. Thankfully, Hestia shares about the same taste in music as myself, so we're not really at odds with what I play in the car when we're together. (Except perhaps for that House CD, hehehe!)

My being able to carry a tune for the songs I like, however, is another story altogether, hehehe! but thankfully, again, Hestia does sing well and can sing in public. (Anyone want to hear a demo?)

Anyhow, the story behind this latest tune brings me back to the year 2000. I had recently resurrected my Casio MP3 watch, from our den, which has 32MB worth of memory for, you guessed it, MP3s. That's probably just 7-8 songs at most using 128 mbps recording, but hey, it was an early edition iPod. Talk about a Blast From The Past, huh?

Anyways, for some reason, I had been spending a bit more time in our den. Dunno if it's related to my finding the watch there. The PC we have in that room is also a blast from the past, year 2002 this time, but then not fully-spec'd. With such limited memory and programs running on Windows 98, (due to my inclination being really towards cars rather than computers) it wasn't gonna be long till I'd find my songs from the Honda days.
The featured song is from the musical "They're Playing Our Song".

They're Playing Our Song is a musical with a book by Neil Simon, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, and music by Marvin Hamlisch.
In a story based on the real-life relationship of Hamlisch and Sager, a wisecracking composer finds a new, offbeat lyricist, but initially the match is not one made in heaven. The two undergo a series of trials and overcome a number of hurdles before finding true love by the final curtain.
Productions: 1978 Los Angeles; 1979 Broadway; 1980 Sydney; 1980 West End

When you’re in my arms
And I feel you close to me
Life’s what it’s supposed to be
I’m in love you are my soul

You’re my melody
You’re every dream I locked away
My whole world came alive the day
You walked into my life
You are my song

Sing it
Let everybody know I found you
Let everybody know I found that thing
That people love to sing about

Tell them
Tell them if they didn’t hear by now
Tell them how I’ve found that feeling that I waited for
I’ve got the world and more

When you’re in my arms
I wish I had the words to say
I’ll give them to you every day

Tonight you’re in my arms
It feels good in your arms
Tonight you’re in my arms

When you’re in love the time keeps tickin’
But you’ve got no time to see it go
I’ve only got eyes for my sweet sweet baby
So love’s the only time I know

When you’re in love your smile gets wider
You get a kind of magic glow
The clock on the wall doesn’t matter at all
Cause love’s the only time you know

Something so right like lovin’ together
Two hearts are better than one
Good good lovin’ that some sweet sweet music
Sure makes wakin’ up fun

Sure feels good to be lovin’ each other
I wonder why we waited so long
The fire is burnin’
We got ourselves our own sweet song

When you’re in my arms
I see a world I’ve never seen
I never knew that trees were green
Till you were in my arms
You are my song

Sing it
Let everybody know I found you
Let everybody know I found that thing
That people love to sing about

Thank you
For helping give my life some order
And where’d you put my tape recorder
I want to write how good I feel tonight

When you’re in my arms
I wish I had the words somehow
Shhh
Not now

Tonight you’re in my arms
And you’ll be wakin’ up in my arms
When you’re in my arms...

I have my friend Lisa to thank for bringing the cd to work about 7 years ago, and her now hubby Mike, for using the company's IT resources in ripping the songs. Hehehe! Mike has since left the company, so I think it's safe to tell a little story about our project exploits. Hehehe!

Back to the song, it kinda brought me back to the time Hestia and I were a new couple. It reminded me of the happy uncertainty we felt weeks before we became a couple which was in stark contrast to the euphoric feeling when we got together (well, the day after, at least, coz on the night we became "us", I was really downed by colds, but that's another story ;) ).

Some people are really better off single, while some are miserable in that state. I'm in the mold of the latter. Ever hear of the phrase "Alone, but not lonely"? Well, I'm quite the opposite. Without a better half, a partner to inspire me, a strong force to calm me, I am lonely even within a crowd.

Honey, your taking a chance with me years ago made everything right for me. Short of sounding like Jerry Maguirre, your reaching out to me put everything in perspective. I am no longer blindly reaching out, but now I'm seeing you and I know that you're within reach. I see the world and life from more than just my point of view. I see more colors and details that have always been there, but have not meant anything until you pointed them out to me.

I look forward to that day in January, six months from now, when we embark on a new journey, when we take another chance and dive into a bigger pond filled with more challenges. Somehow it doesn't feel as frightening nor as daunting, not when you're in my arms...

3165 Date of Initial Incarceration
1198 Date Life Sentence was handed down

Hehehe! Talk about a Prison Sentence, eh? Got to talk to a few guys who've been married for quite a while. This seems to be their idea (read: misconception) about Marriage.

Well, Honey, far from being sucked into their frame of mind, I just laughed with them, not at them, coz they are my friends, too, but made sure that the entire topic ended at the laughing part.

I dunno. Maybe the magic wore off for them. Or maybe, the magic wasn't there to begin with. Perhaps they weren't done having fun - the kind of fun you could no longer have as freely when you have a ring - in the first place. Just like Chris O' Donnell's Jimmie Shannon character in The Bachelor. (Oooh! Farmer Hoggett / James Cromwell is a good guy in this movie! But anyways, that's another story, hehe!) He saw his and his friends' free-running mustang characters being herded in, one by one. But anyways, whatever their reason/s is/are, that's their problem, and I wish them luck resolving it.

Now going back to Jimmie Shannon, and his friends, it's not uncommon to have such a frame of mind. Some guys really value their being able to have a relationship, yet at the same time, have an abundance of space. Intimate time with the sweetheart and bonding time with the boys. Best of both worlds, so to speak. For other guys, that is. I value space, but only to a certain extent. A small extent. At the moment, a day in the week or weekend not spent with each other is enough space. Most of the time, that day is Sunday, when we have our separate commitments to each other's families. Sometimes even, this is not the case, as we both attend each other's family's events.

Honey, I'm not directly asking you to give me space. I'm not straight-forwardly requesting you to keep to your end of the metropolis on one day of the week, and allow me to stay on my end. It just so happens that this is how our Sundays are like. I'm not complaining when this happens. I'm also not complaining if it doesn't - meaning when we spend it together attending some family activity. I like this arrangement, while we're at this engaged-to-be-married state. In a little over 6 months, we'll be together, more so on Sundays.

Though I cherish what we have now, I look to cherish what we'll start having soon a lot more. Mwah!!!

OUR song!

"it had to be you...wonderful you, it had to be you!" this song has always been part of our songlist as a couple. to others, we may strike as a couple with a lot of differences, but to those who know us, they can probably agree that we are a lot like each other. cliche as it may be, we even try to complete each other's sentences. we can read each other's minds! eerie...but when i stop and think about it, to me, it's magical!

that's how we started...chit-chatting about the corniest and the most serious topics anyone could think of..and slowly realizing we found the person we can "connect" with in each other. we burst into laughter at each other's jokes. we cry together at those heartbreaking moments or stories we get to know about (...and shed tears in Spidey 3, right? my current all-time favorite movie). we trust in each other's driving skills and yes, we both enjoy driving and talking about cars. we feast on our favorite foods (or at least, my recent cravings) - from UP Kalayaan's isaw, to Manong Zone's squidballs, to NY Fish & Chips, to Salted Pepper Garlic Squid, to Wagyu Beef, to a toasted bagel with cream cheese at Starbucks). we enjoy being with our families and spending time with friends. all these and more make up OUR special moments...and OUR being a couple.



[p.s. we even share the same favorite number now...he had no choice. hehe]

My Song to You? Or Your Song to Me?

It had to be you
It had to be you
I wandered around
And finally found
Somebody who
Could make me be true
Could make me be blue.
Or even be glad
Just to be sad
Thinking of you.

Some others I've seen,
Might never mean.
Might never be cross,
Or try to be boss,
But they wouldn't
do.
For nobody else gave me
a thrill,
With all your faults I
love you still.
It had to be you,
wonderful you,
It had to be
you.

Nobody's perfect. As they said in the the 2005 movie, "The Perfect Catch/Fever Pitch," "the perfect catch rarely comes in the perfect package." People make mistakes. That's normal. Afterwhich, either of two things happen. People learn from their mistakes, or they don't.

I came across these lyrics as I was going through some songs from my favorite "Standards" singers, my being an old soul and all. This song popped up in Tony Bennett's list of lyrics. Although not exactly on my usual list of songs, a mistake I now will correct, this one's a nice one. First time I heard it sung was back in 2002, care of Marla Hooch in "A League of Their Own". Anyhow, enough of that trivia.

The lyrics hit me, most especially the highlighted ones. It's how someone makes a distinct mark on someone else, by not just being nice and sweet, but by being "real" - moody, temperamental, mean, cross, bossy, overly in/sensitive. These, too, if done in moderation and under "real world" circumstances are endearing qualities, in my book. To me, if these emotions come out so as to make a point that'll help make your relationship better, I'll take them. And although my Honey is generally loving and sweet, she does have her taray moments, a lot of which were triggered by my being masungit.

Honey, I'm not perfect. I never was, and I never will be, you know that. But being with you, seeing you happy, sad, bubbly, moody, frustrated, teary-eyed makes me a better person. Thank you for that. Here's to a lifetime worth of learning by loving.

Waiting...But not in Vain (Hes' Version)

i had my own shares of downfalls and sad moments in my life...sad moments that at times made me question if i was really destined to live a life with a loving partner and beautiful kids. i have always dreamt of having kids and taking good care of them...there were times i can't even imagine my life without kids. i just love them and being around them that having kids and raising them well were to me, measures of my being successful and satisfied with my life. but He has His ways of teaching us to be patient and to learn how to trust in His plans.

i had to experience hurt to appreciate His plans...i had shed tears and shared laughters with people who have come and gone in my life...those experiences made me cherish my family more and the true-st friends i had throughout my life. i learned to love them dearly as they stood by me through the happy and saddest moments of my life. He has made me wait...wait until it is time for me to embrace His plans. during the time i was waiting, i was impatient. there were times i ask questions and there were times i even hurt myself more for prodding and pushing for the things i want.

i learned the hard way...yes, not all the things we want are the things that are good for us. it is only when we learn to accept, let go, trust and wait...that we slowly receive His blessings without us even knowing that His plans are already unfolding. i learned to accept that there are things that i want that are not just according to His plans. i learned to let go and trust that His plans are going to be realized in His perfect time. i learned to wait patiently...and all these have gotten me to enjoy His plans slowly unfolding before me! i waited...and He has shown me the way to reaching the happiness i deserve. while waiting, i lost some friends and gained more! i lost my dad...and i gained a good stepdad, two dear nephews and a whole loving clan in Migoy's family. i loved and lost a couple of times...and i found the one whom i am going to love and share my life with for a lifetime.

yes, i, too, did the waiting...and definitely, it was not in vain.

Waiting... But not in Vain

"I've already found the one worth waiting for. Now all I have to do is wait."

They seem like lines shamelessly stolen from a mushy movie. I won't take it against you for thinking that. But they're actually mine... for Hes, last February 2006.

Flashback to 7 months prior to that. I had just gotten my permanent employment status (finally!) in the company I had once worked as an external consultant/consultant-for-hire (TPC - Third Party Contractor, as they would call it), and a direct contractor. Keeping your head down, concentrating on the road ahead, and blocking out distractions at work, as the Great Schumi used to do on the track, paid dividends. After 20 months, I finally get my blue ID. (I preferred the green one for color purposes, though, hehehe!)

So there, as I had been smiling and thanking everyone who came by and congratulated me, our team had been called into an ad hoc meeting. Juicy, long-term project assignments were being handed out. It's funny how you can be on top of the world for a moment, and crushed right under it at the next. Hes had been assigned abroad for a year, I had not. A Strong Ice lunch had followed later in the day. Wa-Pakk! was needed. While everyone present floated in their assignment excitement, I had wallowed in my disappointment and had drowned it in drink.

Woe is me. Woe is our relationship. Why now?

I got a few mixed reactions from my friends. Some said it could be a sign to let go, since we were quite new (4 months from the get-go), this was a very difficult position to be in and long distance relationships hardly, if ever, work. Some said otherwise. Fight, Fight, Fight! Wait, Wait, Wait!

Oh boy, here I am again - at a position I know so well, but which I find no comfort being at. Hes asked me why I did not want her to leave, aside from the separation. Did I not want her to progress? Did I effectively and selfishly want her career to take a nosedive for my personal reasons? I did not have any right to do so, but I had a privilege to say something. So I did. And so she knew. She hugged me and assured me that my fears, this time, were unfounded. We'd resolved to actively fight for us.

And now, we're living and breathing proof that waiting and holding on has its rewards. As fate would have it, the 1 year assignment would allow her to come home after a month, then a month and a half from then, then allow me to visit after 3 months, and have her home in 4 months. Globe would generously not cut me off (though they're probably this way with most subscribers) for corporate-value and slightly delayed monthly payments, and they'd eventually give me a phone (why just one, though?) for their booming IDD sales.

As Annie Lennox once put it, in the OST of an all-time fave movie, Serendipity, "I don't wanna wait in vain, for your love." Thanks Honey, I never did.

who's the WINNER?

it's been a week-and-a-day that i have been engaged...sorry, i can't stop fixating on my status change. indulge me, please? we met up with friends this week to keep in touch and to keep them abreast on the details of our preps. of course, we indulge their curiosities...i love sharing the great news --- over and over again --- up to point that i almost lost my voice last night! i have been repeating the same story to friends who were patiently and eagerly listening.

last night, one of migs' friends just made me realize there are actually three of us girls (almost of the same age in the group) that are enthusiastically preparing for our respective special days…not so long ago, we were all joking that we are racing against time --- the clock is ticking fast…(but that time, it seemed that all of us were not giving up). now, we are all hopeful brides-to-be. who would’ve thought that? we were all graciously racing against time…and we all emerged winners!

to my dear co-brides-to-be, good luck to us…let us enjoy every moment of preparing to end this race against time and to spend our lives with our mr. right’s for a lifetime.