rewind

I am virtually swimming in a flood of questions, procedures, and requirements for our sponsorship papers. I reviewed the forms we need to submit after December, and it feels like we're submitting a thesis of our relationship! Good thing I'm a sentimental pack-rat, and I've saved a sizeable number of emails, cards, letters, trip receipts, boarding passes, and phone bills - I knew they were going to be useful one day. At least now that I have to dig up everything, I might as well start a scrapbook and get it over with.

According to the forms, we have to attach pictures, receipts, and whatever else we have as proof of our relationship. Funny how that term can reduce a relationship into a paper transaction. Ironically, some friends of mine think that since we're apart, Aldo and I have a relationship that is less special or less stronger than theirs, but apparently to the folks in the immigration department, we have a strong one since we've got receipts, pictures, and letters to prove it! Hmm, seems like immigration will be easier to please than friends.

But that's not the point.

One of the most nitty-gritty questions is... "Describe how your relationship after your first contact/meeting with your sponsor and if you and your sponsor dates or went on any outings or trips together. Provide photos and documentary evidence of events or activities in which you both participated."

The first time Aldo asked me out was under the guise of not eating lunch yet. He was at the prayer meeting earlier than anyone else and he called me to ask if I could come early too. The next time was when we watched a movie and walked around Megamall's Interior Decor floor - I thought it was pretty weird that he was giving me a mini-lecture about different toilet bowls... but as in all relationships, it doesn't really matter what you do, but who you're with. Shopping for toilet bowls may have been a weird idea to some, but for us, it was the perfect date to get to know each other a tad bit more.

Our most memorable date (other than Banff) would probably be when I literally morphed into Garfield over dinner. We had dinner at Itallianni's and ordered a putanesca. Three forkfuls later, my eyes were slowly swelling til they were eventually half-shut - talk about a horror story! I was beyond being embarassed but Aldo, being the loving person that he is, got the check and drove me home, and stopped at the nearest drugstore to buy my medicine. After that night, we pretty much swore off putanesca, and Aldo has been careful of my allergies ever since. God must really have a funny way of giving us signs on who we're going to end up with.

Too bad we don't have documentary evidence of those dates... it would have been entertaining for the immigration officers reviewing our papers!

And that's just the 1st part of 1 form!