The clock struck twelve here in the Canete - Virtucio household;
I just loved how you, Umbert quietly woke up the sleeping Lety, whispered ‘Happy Anniversary’ and gave her a kiss.
Which was of course greeted by cheers and exaggerated annoyed and grimacing looks from your dear children :p

I know we always poke fun of your public display of affection towards each other.  How you look at each other and giggle like teenagers dating.
The way you cuddle and sweet talk each other into giving what the other needs. Calling each other up or texting each other almost every hour just to know how each one is doing, with an ‘i love you’ fixed to every other message.
But deep inside, we like seeing how much you love each other.

I have always wondered how you guys kept that fire alive.
The chemistry is still evident and it is truly inspiring to see how your love has grown greater and deeper with each year that has passed.
Its amazing how you have overcome different trials and road blocks that life has thrown in your marriage and come out seemingly unscathed.  If not, even stronger.

Through good times, you’ve supported each other.
Beamed and shared the blessings with the ones you love.
Through the worst, you held hands, hummed ‘Danny’s Song’ and told each other how much you’ve fallen for each other even more.

Whenever Id think about love, and how much I have fallen in and out of it.. All those failed relationships and heartaches. I would sometimes doubt it’s authenticity and the possibility of its realism.
But seeing both of you flirt, whisper sweet nothings and treating each day as if it’s your first, keeps me faithful.

As Umbert handed Lety her 27th dozen of roses; and seeing you, Lety smile with delight despite your sleepy state, made me realize what love is.
Love is pure. Non expecting.
Love preserves and hopes for the positive aspects of life.
Sharing with each other not only the happiness and the bliss, but the horrors and sorrows that life has in store.  Understanding each other and giving each other room to grow and be their own person.
Through thick and thin, the good and the bad, love is steadfast and never does waver.
You both has always been a living example of it to me.
And I could only hope that in my life, Id be able to find that kind of forever :)

Thank you for finding each other.
Thank you for walking down the aisle.
Thank you for raising four beautiful children (along now with an equally beautiful grandchild).
Thank you for the lessons you have taught us, for the treasures you’ve shared and for keeping GOD as our center.
Most of all, thank you for the great love you have for each other, a love that continues to keep us strong as a family as well.

I love you, Lety.  I love you, Umbert.
Happy 27th Anniversary!
And cheers to more years ahead! :)
MWAH!

In her thoughts.

Not too long ago.

It was a night not like the rest.
We were being honest, point blank.
We were seated at a pavement somewhere in his neighborhood, discussing possibilities of the future and what it holds for us individually.
“Love is over rated.” He suddenly declares.
I was honestly stomped and wide eyed.
For the longest time now, i have been in love with this man and it baffles me to know about what he thinks of what I have to offer.
I wanted to defend what I so strongly believed in for the past 20 plus years of my existence.
Wanted to retort something that would leave him nonplus.  But all to no avail.
Gave my lame two cents, not really drilling in what I meant to say, and just let him further explain why he made such declaration with me nodding in agreement with some of the points he put across.

I wanted to be with him, BADLY.
But with the way he sees what I’ve got to offer as something not worth taking a risk for.
To see love as something general. Something passable, just don’t sit well with me.
It hurts.
I accept diversity.  I understand differences.  But not treasuring what the other holds dear is another.

Love isn’t over rated.  People who do makes it to be.
We complicate things.  We over simplify it.
Love is neither.
Love is just pure. Felt.
Not to be properly defined.
Not to be labeled.
Just. Felt. And shared.
It isn’t to be over analyzed and to be tested to see how long it’ll last.
Happiness and love is a marriage that life bestows upon those willing to accept it.
You can never be real happy if you don’t acknowledge what love is, and the latter the same.
Love isn’t over rated.
People who do make it to be.

This I know, for a fact.
Ill never forget that night, and his declaration.
We still saw each other after that, but it didn’t last.
He stopped looking for me.  And I stopped chasing him.
It was tiring. Complicated. Painful.
But Ill never regret.  Never.
I love him with all of me.
And that feeling took me to different highs i never knew possible.
It was pure. Sweet. Blissful.
It made me feel alive.
We haven’t talked nor seen each other for a long time now, and its fine by me.
I wish he would soon be able to find the happiness and the peace he longs to find.
And the love that he sub consciously yearns for.

As for me, ill never lose hope on love.
Ill always love, him.. myself.. and whoever life brings me to meet.

Love will never be over rated to me.  And I refuse to be like the people who make it to be.