  I think we always knew we were going to marry each other. We were mindful on a very pragmatic level that things could go awry; that we may grow to discover that we were too different to ever reconcile our backgrounds, that God never really intended for this union to take place. As the months zipped by however, it became less a question of if , and more a question of when .
Things really came to a head however in late March, just the Sunday before Tony was to leave for his Pan-America Baseball Adventure. That was when we realised that time was running out; I graduate this December, God-willing, and then I have to get out of the country. Or something. And that's when he asked if I'd agree to go for marriage counselling. We decided to approach Stephen Randall, because he not only counsels regularly, Tony's extremely comfortable with him. Stephen is such a sparkly-eyed, brimming-with-enthusiasm kinda guy that I really don't mind him either.
Besides, he's seen the both of us together more than either ministers of congregations in Singapore or Brisbane, so this was only sensible. We also decided that this was a good platform because it would raise issues that we wouldn't be able to recognise on our own, and it was a pretty surefire way of discovering if we're enamoured with the idea of marrying each other, or if the entire concept freaks either of us out.
Stephen was thrilled to do the honours, and gave us his premature blessings, which was curiously awkward for us because we're really not engaged. We're just practical. Then Tony left for America on April 2nd, I went about my life as normally as possible, and neither of us mentioned the counselling in any of our phonecalls or emails for the next 9 weeks. I think the tacit agreement both of us had was that the time apart also served as testing ground for our feelings for each other.
True enough, the distance did crystallise some things between the both of us and we are approaching Stephen today to ask if Tuesday evenings are good for him to come over for dinner and counselling after. I decided to start this blog because a good part of me doesn't know what the heck is going on and I need to muddle through somehow.
I'm blissed out but apprehensive; part of me feels I'd die if we go through the counselling and he freaks out midway and decides he can't go through life with me. We're still not engaged at this juncture; it feels a little bit like we're putting the cart before the horse, and our practical approach is rather unromantic and lacks frills and lace... but we're also determined to do this right. 
