AXIOO

There are couples who have a less than ideal start to their journey. By less than ideal, I mean according to their own standard, not other people, that things didn’t pan out the way they’ve originally planned. Let’s blame it on fairy tales and culture that have shaped our minds into thinking that there is one way to begin a romantic journey, only one way to ensure a happy ending. And we are afraid to prove it otherwise, paralyzed by fear that we might not achieve the happy ending we’ve dreamed about. But on some rare occasions, some of us are excused from the burdens of choices by dramatic turn of events. We may then be unsure about how things will work out, because we didn’t plan that. But I believe that commitment has a strong hold on how things roll out after that. What happens down the road depend entirely up to us, and it’s a great feeling when we realize that we are in control of our own happy endings, no matter how the journey may have began. That is not up to chance.

This is a lesson that only some of us have had the privilege to live out. Raymond and Deviana may not have imagined being where they are today when they first met in 2006. But in 2009, he got down on one knee after a romantic dinner with a breathtaking view of the Sydney Opera House and asked for her hand in marriage. They didn’t have the wedding or pre-wedding portraits she’s dreamed about growing up, but as they stood in front of a minister who registered their marriage, Deviana believed that she is in good hands. Three years later, she stood on top of Snowy Mountains again, where she and Raymond shared their first kiss, for a post-wedding session with me, and her dream wedding reception finally took place last month. Nothing is ever too late!

Dreams have a funny way of coming true. It may not happen in the way they have imagined it to, but in the end, as they look around themselves to see the smiles on their spouses’ faces or the laughter of their child, they are astounded because they could not imagine themselves being anywhere but here. And this, my friends, is what a happy ending is about: making the choice to commit and taking control of your own destiny.

Congratulations once again Raymond and Deviana! Stay forever in love!

Cheers,
Ivan