It was December 8, 2000 when I lost my mind… I mean my singlehood. To those who have always wondered, that was also the day my girlfriend became my ex-girlfriend.
On November 12, 2010, less than a month before our 10th wedding anniversary, in a town called Cana in Galillee (if you don’t know where Galillee is you need to read your Bible more), my ex-girlfriend and I exchanged vows for the second time. And yes it’s the same Cana where Jesus attended a wedding 2000+ years ago and performed his very first public miracle by turning water to wine.
It was the real thing, mind you, and not just a mock-up ceremony. With 12 other couples (mostly older than us) including my parents-in-law no less, we attended the solemn wedding mass and rites in a church known as the Wedding Church. It couldn’t be more fitting than that, could it?
Everything seemed nostalgic.
We walked down the isles and there were flashes from cameras all over the place. The brides were each holding a red rose as we walked the isle. The music that was played escapes my memory now. No it wasn’t “All the single ladies.” That much I am certain about. What did you say? “Please release me”? Come on!
A real priest — and a Filipino priest at that — officiated the solemn ceremony. We were mostly wearing white and somebody even sang a couple of the familiar wedding ballads.
And the wedding rings… Yes we exchanged wedding rings, too. This was the part that almost ruined the solemnity of the occasion because I had difficulty taking out my wedding band from my finger when the priest gave the instruction that we should be exchanging rings once again.
And we kissed the brides! To each his own, of course.
Believe it or not, through the entire ceremony I had the jitters all over again! My fellow bridegrooms swore they felt it, too.
So I married my girlfriend twice in the past 10 years. That makes her my ex-exgirlfriend!*
* special note to Kettie: there it goes — the solution to your mystery.
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