01355: When It Comes to LOVE, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

This is a plate of pancit canton. In fact, it is a plate of several packets of Lucky Me Instant Pancit Canton, but spruced up with some veggies and some chorizo thanks to Prince. While not the best photo in the world (I took it using the ASUS Transformer) but I think this one simple photo says a lot about life at the Sietch.

The simplest "lesson" or "message" here is that even the simplest things can be among the most enjoyable, and that's often true with Tobie, Prince and me. As much as we enjoy traveling together, it doesn't mean we enjoy enjoying a simple breakfast of liver spread sandwiches that we had packed for the trip instead of eating at some fancy beachfront resort. We celebrate watching fun plays together, but we also enjoy watching Showtime on ABS-CBN during those odd moments when we leave the TV on while eating brunch together.

I've often written about how I've always felt that my love is best expressed in the details - the small, everyday things instead of the grand gestures. Don't get me wrong - all three of us try our hardest to figure out how to surprise one another in the form of purchases that we keep secret until the last minute or just hiding chocolates in someone's bag. But really it's the small things that make things beyond special and that's where it really counts in the end.

Tobie always tries to find reasons to drive me to work at night no matter how tired he is or the fact that my office in Makati is so out of the way. O Bar Ortigas is a lot closer to Cubao than Makati is and yet any O Bar night is a chance for him to save me the hassle of commuting.

Prince pours his passion into cooking and doesn't just focus on preparing good meals for us to enjoy together as a family, but he also makes sure that I have food to bring to work for lunch. And it is such a delight to have great home-cooked meals instead of the drab, same-food-but-different-colors fare that they serve at the office pantry (since I avoid eating fast food at the office). Heck, he even makes sure that there's some extra food to share with Anna, my only peer in the Marketing department.

Tobie and Prince send me a steady stream of updates of pretty much everything that goes on at O Bar while I'm at the office working. Prince rests his legs on mine while he sleeps. Tobie instinctively reaches out for hugs while in the deepest slumber. Prince is absolutely adorable when he's playing Super Mario on the 3DS. Tobie has this special smile when he dresses up more than usual and he realizes that he DOES look good.

Together with our (rapidly growing) dog, Yoshi, this is the ASA Family. This is our family held together by a commitment that grows stronger every day through the power of love and honesty. Sure, we're only human and we have our moments of weakness here and there. But we don't give up just because of a single misstep. In the end love helps us find our way back to one another and ready to find a middle ground where we can find a way to move forward.

There are a million and one other things that happen throughout the day that act as little reminders of our love for one another. A lot of times they may go unnoticed - we're talking about the absolutely mundane and seemingly commonplace things. But they count for a lot more since they're what become consistent in your life together. They aren't forced. They aren't done just for show or to impress other people outside the relationship. They the things that you make sure get done every single day no matter how tired you are or how stressed out from work you just may happen to be. And those are the things that really matter and make a difference.