occupation: SAHM

We spent the weekend in Antipolo, where we had our 2nd Marriage Enrichment Retreat (MER2) which was organized by our chapter in CFC. It was nice hearing the speakers talk of the trials they faced in their marriage, and how they survived them. Almost all of the speakers are as old as my parents, and it was really kilig seeing the “oldies” talk about their spouses’ endearing qualities. We all knew it wasn’t just for show; we could see in their faces that they are all still very much in love with each other despite the salt and pepper hair and wrinkles and bellies. Makes all of us participants (who have been married 5-10 years) aim to become like them.

The participants, most of them are our close friends, too.

The final activity had each couple face each other, pray for the other, and say whatever they wanted to say to each other. It was a very intimate moment; hubby and I were in a tight embrace while we whispered our prayers. I couldn’t help crying as I listened to hubby’s prayers for me, which was really a declaration of how much love he has for me. It warmed my heart to know that every little thing I did for him and our kid(s) never went unnoticed, and was in fact very much appreciated much more than I ever knew. I fell more in love with him, and I knew it was mutual. The whole thing affirmed what we have always known - hubby and I are mfeo.

After that, the speaker encouraged us to demonstrate “PDA” ; kiss, hug each other as much as we want to, short of “doing it”. I thought I would feel self-conscious but hey! we are married, therefore privileged to be as intimate as much we want to. And well, it was part of the retreat. Ang sarap! I swear! Maybe because love was literally overflowing, and of course, what we just said to each other made the hugs and kisses much, much more meaningful. There was this feeling that God was actually happy to see us PDA-ing. The older couples, the speakers and service team who are in their 50’s, also participated in our version of Lovapalooza and it was really kilig just watching them.