Oath of Marriage ... and Death!

April 3rd is a memorable day for Esther and I, and also to our kids, Leo and Olivia, as today is our Wedding Day! I am feeling shy in simply looking at some of these old photos. Like this one below taken that day, standing among the wedding brothers (from left to right) Keith, Thomas, Edward, me & Esther, then Alexander, Bill and George at the carpark of Viking Gardens in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, i.e. the apartment where we would then live after our wedding. Keep in mind that other than change of hairline (moving up a bit) and size of the body (usually inflated), they look almost identical today as in the picture! Yeah, I know it's hard to believe ... but this is a statement "very near to the truth"! Hahahah!

Oath of Marriage: By 11:30am that morning at the City Hall of Hong Kong in Central that we had the official signing ceremony for our marriage. In front of hundreds of family members, guests and friends, I made the oath:

I, Chan Kwok-Choi (Matthew), take you, Ng Sau Wan (Esther), to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part. Then, in similar text, Esther also made the same oath.

At that time, I was not really paying attention to the last sentence, i.e. "from this day forward and until death do us part"! Today, after the pronouncement of my body may expire in 8 months' time, and not knowing if there will be the NEXT wedding anniversary that Esther & I are going to celebrate, this sentence now carries some weight on me. Or provoke me to go deeper into my soul, to say the least!

My struggle here, mainly is WHY we would allow death to do us part? What if we both agree that our marriage will NOT be parted by death? Kindly note that this is not a theoretical debate. It is not difficult for you to look around you, and find people who would carry their marriage and feelings (of love and being loved) to the very last day of the remaining one (and this time re-joined by death, not parted)! Provided we mutually agree, can we not change the text and read like, simply "... ... from this day forward (period)."

A lot of you, after reading this Blogger, encouraged me by telling me you are gracious, through my sharing, that you now know how to treasure your loved ones and the time when you are together with them. And that you now know, or at least would stop and think, what's the priority in life and how we shall plan our precious time (with our loved ones). I am also gracious to your encouragement! Today, at this Wedding Day of Esther & I, we would like to make death insignificant and our marriage (or para-phrased as our love) eternal! As long as WE BOTH agree, between us, we can make it eternal! Nothing between us can stop us, death included! By same logic of thinking, as long as you and your loved one agree, between you two, you can make your love eternal!

[This picture was taken in one of my friend's house. I somehow find them one of my favorite wedding dolls, the hair and customs so cute, the smiles so lovely, ... the look so ignorant ... about marriage!]