Space-Time Continuum: Love Letters to Jay

Lisbon, 2021

For Jay: 

I love you in the future from where you are right now, 

and from 7 hours in your past where I am today.

I love you in Asia, in Europe, in all the seas I’ve traversed 

just to be in the same timeline as you.

I love you in the summer, under the rain, 

in dark clouds forming, 

in the blooming of flowers we’ve never seen,

in apocalypse,

in broad daylight.


And I will meet you in the future very, very soon 

to love you ad infinitum.

- written in 2021, on my last days in Lisbon, before coming back to the Philippines

For Jay:

I do not remember which star I wished upon

when I said


all I want is to be content

and at peace

in this lifetime


that this star gave me more than I could ever ask for

and brought me within the radius of someone made 

of tenderness, warmth, and magic


that in every ordinary thing there is in my life

washing the dishes

driving from point A to B

having breakfast with no view

when done with you, becomes an adventure I’ve never had before


and that I’d love to be on

every. single. day.


And let me tell you, 

I’ve jumped off planes and 

slept on the edge of a 500ft cliff 

but this is something else. 


Everything you touch turns into sunlight

and gold

-even laundy and dirty dishes.


How could I ever thank the star

that led me to walk beside you,

loving you

each day of this lifetime?

- written in 2022, a year after moving in together

You started off saying that there’s only a 20% chance 

that Mt. Fuji shows itself to people who come here. 


That those who get to see it are blessed with luck. 

The weather forecast said there would be a thunderstorm that day, 

but we went anyway, 

telling ourselves that the sight of it 

would just be a lovely bonus. 


The same way that we took a chance 

on all the seemingly impossible things 

that beautifully worked out in our lives, 

and have led us to this very moment - 

exactly because we chose to say yes, 

no matter the odds. 


That day, there was a calm sky above us. 

It never rained. 

And Mt. Fuji was there with us wherever we walked, 

bearing witness to another chance we’re taking. 

- written in 2023, after Jay proposed to me in Fujikawagichiko

They say things will happen so fast, 

and it will all be a blur.

But at random times of the day, 

while listening to a song or feeding the cat, 

suddenly it’s June 4 again, a Tuesday, 

I’m sitting next to you, 

watching our loved ones have a good time.

I’m pretending to take a photo of it in my mind, 

then I tell you, 

“This is so nice. We did this. All of this.”

- written in 2024, a month after our wedding

Bonus: 

17 years ago, when you asked me to be your graduation ball partner in high school.

We were 16. I wish I had written something back then,

but we were young, busy being ourselves,

without a single brain cell asking where this might take us.

* Overloaded on the wedding photos a bit, all taken by the wonderful team of Oak St. Studios. They made an entire album of our day here <3





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