13 Oct 2021 – 3rd wedding anniversary
In my opinion, wedding anniversaries should definitely be celebrated. It takes a lot out of most couples to see each other everyday, live together and have yet to murder the other party (just kidding). COVID didn’t make it better – wake up see, breakfast see, lunch see, dinner see, go toilet also see. No time and opportunity to miss each other at all. The couple faced everything together. Whenever a party feels something emotionally, the other party is the first to experience it – regardless if it is happy, sad or angry.
Random fact: on our first year, Husband randomly joked he don’t want to celebrate since we are celebrating my birthday which is also in October. I cried out of 委屈-ness which shocked him. Ever since then, we have been celebrating our wedding anniversary. I am not looking at lavish celebrations but just prioritising some time together to honour this union.
And so, we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on 13 October 2021. My work day was full and hence we decided not to venture off too far and decided on Maison de PB by Paris Baguette at Jewel. We have not tried it before and didn’t know that it is by Paris Baguette until we were there.
When we reached Jewel, the first F&B I saw was Shake Shack.
Me: Ok, Shake Shack is here. If all else fails we can come here eat. (We were late for our reservation)
Him: *judgingly* Why? Here Jewel leh, so many F&B here, why we need to eat Shake Shack?
Coincidentally, Maison de PB was just opposite Shake Shack. The entrance was blocked off by queue poles. So we waited, thinking that the service staff went for washroom break. Subsequently we saw someone strolling back and removed the queue pole and went inside without acknowledging us. Naturally I was rather pissed and called out “Table for 2.” Only after which she looked at us and told us to place order at the counter before going upstairs for for our meal. Verbally she was not rude but her attitude was screaming “I don’t care about you.” and “Walk away if you want.”
I asked Husband if she was showing attitude. He said yes but he continued to be quite nice to her. We were the only 2 at level 2, and some of the tables were not cleared. When the server was speaking to the kitchen crew, she mentioned that she is the only one. Husband, who has rather good understanding of F&B operations, then mentioned that F&B is impacted by COVID and hence they wouldn’t schedule more people for each shift. Given that airport is also so quiet, it is not surprising that they downsized the roster. Even so, he commented that it is the Management’s issue for not scheduling more people to cover 2 levels. Ok, given his explanation, I cooled down. (see, couples influence each other)
Even though our server was a 1 lady show, she was not slow in serving us. The server was just being human and perhaps sore that she has to man the whole restaurant all by herself. Then again, we were the only active guests – there were 2 boys downstairs just only la kopi and use laptops. (Nowadays children are very rich, last time we can only drink coke at Burger King airport and study the whole day there. Another story for another time.)
We had our iced water and bread served warm and promptly. I have to say that Paris Baguette has good breads. Food was good. Luckily we did not go for Shake Shack.
After our dinner, to make life easier for our only 1 server, Husband suggested that we have our desserts downstairs. And so we brought our water down ourselves too. I think the server really did appreciate Husband’s little gesture.
After desserts 2 happy bellies went to walk around Jewel aimlessly.
Though we were full, greedy me wanted to go for Birds of Paradise just to try it once #suaku and 难得 there is practically no queue. And so, we got 2 flavours – Lychee Raspberry and White Chrysanthemum. We must say, there is a reason for the long queue despite the not-so-cheap price. Husband reminded that these 2 scoops can buy 1 pint of ice cream on offer. 🤯 Regardless, we had enjoyed our ice cream and little walk.
We then went to walk around airport and found this little cute Hong Kong cha chan teng corner. Like everyone, we missed traveling. However, the silver lining is that our expenses were a bit more controlled in view that we cannot travel.
It was a simple and fun celebration which we both enjoyed. ◡̈
Getting married is easy (strictly speaking only need to sign at ROM), but staying married is not. Both parties need to work hard at maintaining the relationship. Husband and I have our differences – I always describe that with the both of us, it is like the clash of the Titans where both parties are vocal and have their own opinions. We have gone through an intense 磨合期 at the beginning. While I cannot say that we are all done with the 磨-ing, I do recognise we are getting a lot better. ◡̈
Husband is not the most romantic person, but he is definitely a caring one. I appreciate that he will try to cook for us on days I have evening calls. Once it was raining heavily in the middle of the night and he woke up to help me take my running shoes in while I was snoozing away. When he needed the fan and I am cold, he will use one of his pillows to block the fan for me. We are not the most expressive couple but there are things we see and appreciate about each other.
Fundamentally, it is clear that we love and care for each other and want to continuously work on maintaining our relationship. (It is like SMRT, maintenance has to be continuous, despite peak or busy periods.) We still have our kinks to iron out, but I am sure we will keep trying to sort them out. A colleague told me that it is important to celebrate small things, perhaps that it is something we can try out first.
Dear Mimi, to many more anniversaries and celebrations together. ❤️, from your Wifey
