Now There's Two...

... to live together in bliss and delirious joy, oblivious to the skin colour disparities - one brown, one yellow, both skinny, as Reeza likes to say.

Yep, Reeza and I were married in a b-e-a-utiful ceremony in the National Mosque three weeks ago, with family and closest of friends in attendance. He wants to get an assortment of customised T-shirts that will shut people up even before they think about asking if he's Malay / I'm Chinese.

We've had our fair shair of that, from friends and not-really-friends alike. None meant to be hurtful or malicious of course, but it really is funny how people don't even think about it, before asking out loud: "Ooh, this your wife ah? Chinese ah?"

Yes, and we're happy. That line's meant to be printed on one of those T-shirts, by the way.

But on the whole, the acceptance and sincere wishes for happiness we've been receiving all round have been overwhelming. The wedding was gorgeous, exactly as I had imagined it - thanks to mummy dearest who, in her typical diplomatic way, managed to ensure that the Nikah ceremony was held inside the Masjid Negara, underneath the beautiful dome, with friends and family seated closeby.

When I wrote in for an approval to hold our marriage in the National Mosque, the mosque authorities initially replied with a letter that said we were only allowed to have the ceremony outside the prayer hall, because non-Muslims were not allowed into the hall.

I was upset beyond measure, and lost a few nights' sleep, wallowing in disappointment and outrage... this was the second such response. My first choice had actually been the breathtakingly beautiful Wilayah Mosque, but they didn't allow marriages inside their mosque either. They had another hall, constructed away from the main mosque, for marriages.

I contemplated launching into a tirade and write to the papers - institutionalising and over protection of Islam in Malaysia, etc etc etc...

But I think when you're very close to getting married, something happens to your inner energy, your qi. I woke up one morning after a fitful night and decided to just let it go. If I wasn't meant to be married in the serene and peaceful setting of a mosque, then so be it. If the marriage was meant to be, it will be.

And it was.

Thank you, everyone. For being there with us. To my wonderful family - mummy, my sisters and brothers (who needs events managers when you have the Ma Family Emergency Brigade?), my new family, friends...

Thank you.