After months of planning and preparation, Vero and I finally come to realize that we are REALLY getting married. It was like a distant idea when I first proposed to her. Suddenly, it’s less than a month to the D-Day. Yay!
The chosen day is Saturday, August 12, 2006. The Holy Matrimony will be held at GBI Tampak Siring at 2 PM, and the wedding reception at Gedung Wanita Patra Pertamina Cempaka Putih at 7 PM.
See you there and then!
Stephen
The church where I worship every Sunday has no building. We rent a school building for Sunday services, and a small dilapidated house for storage and small gatherings. The school building, though belongs to a private institution, is very much like most public schools in Jakarta. The classrooms are small and dark, the hallways are narrow, and the restrooms are dingy and dirty.
I become psychotic when it comes to dirty restrooms. I hate them. Especially the ones with dark interior and wet floors. I hate them so much up to the point that I have recurring nightmares about dirty toilets.
I am endowed with a small bladder and a quick metabolism of liquids. On any given day, I would need to go about once every two hours, at least. That is why my favorite place to hang out is the one with the cleanest restrooms in the city. I don’t mind spending the whole day there, because I know I won’t have any problem responding to nature’s call there.
But life is never perfect, and I have to accept the fact that some places that I regularly go to do not always offer such luxury. I have to deal with that, and accept reality with my nose and my sense of disgust blocked. Especially on Sundays.
One fateful Sunday, my greatest dread became a reality. I had an upset stomach when I was in church. I had no choice but to go to the dirty toilet and do my business there. When I was done, all cleaning complete and all garbs put on, some tiny movements near the toilet bowl caught my attention.
It was an ugly, big, cockroach.
Good thing I had been quite accustomed with the presence of cockraches in bathrooms. I just shrugged my shoulders and thought it was not surprising, given the highly unsanitary condition of the toilet. I was getting ready to leave the cubicle when a thought crossed my mind. It might be okay for me, but what if somebody else who did not think so would use the toilet? What if Vero was that person?
Vero has a much lower treshold of disgust compared to me. The toilet alone is enough to send her vomitting. Add a cockroach to the equation, and heaven knows what would happen.
I decided that this roach must be disposed.
I took off my right shoe and held it high in my right hand. I took aim at the darned insect, and swung my shoe. A direct hit, and the poor thing laid on its back with its tiny feet scrambling in the air. I made another swing, and that’s the end of it. I put my shoe back on, took out a piece of tissue from my pocket, wiped the carcass, and went out. I threw the tissue into the trash bin, washed my hands, and went back inside.
Why am I telling you this? To tell you the truth, it’s not easy for me to recount that story. I can distinctly remember the feeling of repulsion I had at the sight of the roach. As I wrote the narrative, I could feel my stomach revolted at the memory. And yet I think it’s important enough to endure all that just tell you this.
This incident shows how much different I see things now. I can even see small acts, such as cleaning the toilet from pests as a small service I can do for others. Picking up candy wraps from the floor, waiting patiently for the slow driver in front of me while holding down the impulse to hit the horn, greeting the tollgate keeper, and sundries of other small things.
It’s really rewarding when you do anything not for your own benefit, but for others. It’s something that you can give freely, with little effort on your part, but with a lot of benefit for others.
With that in mind, I began to see how satisfying a marriage can be. Imagine, living a life of serving everyday, from the break of dawn up to the slumber time. One’s life does not belong solely to oneself anymore, but also to others.
- The Staldsi
It’s been quite awhile since I last posted something in my blog. It’s not really about not having time to do it, but not having a good thing to write about. I finally came up with something. Come on in and read up! If you forgot where my blog is, you can find it here. Or you can always find it on the links on your left.
- Stephen
