JUJU EVANGELISTA-CARISSA CRUZ: Together in love and laughter

MACAU – A couple of week-ends ago, I flew overseas for a three-day sojourn in Macau, Asia’s very own City of Lights. For reasons aside from, well, nothing else really because I am unfortunately under 21, my sister Carissa and her fiancé Juju were slated to get married in a quaint li’l old chapel there in the company of their closest family and friends. Set atop a hill at the Mt. Carmel Church, the wedding was scheduled at 4 p.m., on a cloudy afternoon sprayed with Macau’s humid climate. Unlike marriage ceremonies back in Manila, Ate’s wedding was one that was going to be relatively small and intimate. If you ask me, it’s definitely a breather course from all the fanfare and hullabaloo of weddings back home.

For the ceremony, I was privileged enough to join the entourage as a groomsman aside from being a guest of the bride. As if being a brother didn’t entail a judicious share of responsibility. During those crunch times of stress, stress, and even more stress, I had to chip in some calm and energy along with mostly everyone concerned with the wedding, in keeping our heads above water and making sure that everything goes well. The time of our arrival marked a day of choir and wedding rehearsals, last-minute fittings, bouquet and seating arrangements, and rolling along through such logistical matters that were needed for the event. I don’t care about most marriages in the 21st century but I still believe that a girl only gets married once in her life. And it is to the most perfect guy whom she chooses to spend the rest of her life with, in sickness and in health and all that jazz. Since Ate has found hers, it was a group effort to make this event a most memorable milestone for the happy couple.

It’s been a long time coming, they say. And just about how relationships always magically go full circle, the actual day of their wedding was an amazing halo-halo of laughter, Kodak moments, and tremendous fun – reminiscent of how they both started as a couple. Chowking halo-halo was what they had on their very first date after all. It started off with the Wedding March actually. Halfway through the procession, Tito Philip and Ate Carissa realized too late that it was the father holding the bouquet and not the bride. Ate claims that she forgot to get it back from her dad when she asked him to hold it to check on her stiletto strap. Next thing I knew, in the middle of torrential tears of joy at the sight of their beloved bride, everyone was bursting into a hearty amount of laughter, Ate most especially. There was also a moment during the wedding vows when Ate read her vow wrong and said, "I, Maria Theresa Carolina Martha Perez Cruz, take thee Juju as my lawfully wedded wife, ay mali, husband pala." After which, even more laughter exploded as the commentator Tita Marissa bade everyone, Madame President included, to stand up only to sit down again for got mixed up on directions in the missalette. The ceremony was even capped off with an interesting picture-taking session, mixing and managing a halo-halo of three different families equal in dignity. Let’s not even get to the wedding reception for that, my friends, is another fun and memorable story to tell.

For the time that I’ve known them, I was witness to a companionship that thrived on love and laughter. Theirs was one that survived through those rollercoaster rides of tragedies, family complications, work-related stress, and occasional heartaches. All the while, Juju had always been there for us, most especially for Ate Carissa when she, like yours truly, was at her all-time lowest. I remember that his was the first shirt that I used fresh from the fire while I was in my wardrobe-less state. His was the earth-shattering laughter that brought us a bit of comfort when everything else seemed utterly disheveling. I remember that even after the storm subsided, my moments with Ate and Juju had always been one bent on laughter and effortless friendship atop default familial relations. That Ate had never been happier until she met Juju. And hearing side comments from just about everybody that she had finally found the right man, it was thus no surprise that they ended up tying the knot. Thank God for Desperate Housewives, but then again, that’s their story to tell.

Throughout the wedding, I was immersed in a schizo-session of tears and laughter as I witnessed my sister "find her lobster," as Phoebe from Friends once put it, and prove her love for him in front of all those people who mattered to them the most. I was comforted by the fact that after so many years of Ate always taking care of me, Manoy Ipe, Maki and KC, she had finally found someone who will take care of her, and grow with her in her journey from Casa el Singledom to hopefully motherhood when the time comes. As I sobbed, smiled, and laughed for the most part of the ceremony, I was reminded that love really isn’t something you look for. It’s something that you find. And in the end, no matter how many how-to-guides you read over magazines, or relationships you go through to find just what is you’re looking for, Mr. Big, to Carrie Bradshaw, puts it oh-so-right. "After a while, you just wanna be with someone who makes you laugh."

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Catch your breath and let me know what you think at chasingtoff@yahoo.com.