A special day that was. A simple 'hello' for the first time led to many more 'hellos' and then, **boom** love was in the air. He was with Malaysia Airlines and me, fresh outta college, was gathering some working experience at one of those Duty Free outlets at the Subang Airport before moving into the hotel line later. So there it was, at 12.30am on the 31st of July 1989, we crossed paths for the very first time at Terminal One Subang Airport (pre KLIA days).
Sunny Affandey - I honestly couldn't make out what race this chap was... He had an English spelling to his first name, but a Malay second name (Affandey), led me to wonder. He had strong Chinese features then, but spoke fluent Malay...the last thing I wanted to be, was a kepochee asking what race he really was. Little did I know that 'someone' was also wondering the same thing about me..'How come this Malay girl has got an English name'..Talk about first time confusions.
Reflecting on that, I can't recall the number of times he's been mistaken for a Chinese and me, a Malay...Even the time when we walked into the Department of Religious Affairs for my conversion - the Ustaz smiled at him very politely, then turned and asked me if he (Sunny) was ready proclaim the Kalimah Syahadah (convert). Eventually Ustaz had a good laugh too, when Sunny told him that it was the other way round. Anyways, just so you know, whenever Sunny puts on his songkok for whatever reasons, the kids call him Yap Ah Loy...He really does resemble a Chinese Muallaf.
What happened then? I fell in love lah...Fell so damn hard that it never occurred to me that something was standing right in the middle of our way - Our Religions!
From the start, it seemed a 'no win' situation for me. Mum made it crystal clear that marrying a Muslim was out of the question. In fact, this was drilled into our heads from the time we understood English! So, it was purely unintentional and from there, began a roller-coaster series of 'falling in love, happiness, butterflies in tummy, pleading, butterflies again, crying, more pleading (with parents) AND finally after 5 LONG years, I finally witnessed Sunny recite "...Aku terima nikahnya, Sabrina binti Abdullah dengan Mas Kahwinnya....." in front of Imam Ibrahim of Jabatan Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan at approximately 3.30pm on the 4th February 1994.
No kidding. I was a wife now. And I enjoyed playing 'house'...loved cleaning our home, cooking for my new husband and doing just about everything to please him. And I got so much more in return - being blessed with a most incredible husband, who loved me for what I am, ravished in my goodness and tolerated my weaknesses...(Not that I had that much, anyways).
Sunny is very passionate about our Children and always says that he loved me even more the day we became parents for the first and second time. Even in the after-labour daze, I still remember him grinning from ear to ear (literally), snipping off the umbilical cord of both his kids, 'qamat' into the ears of his precious little daughter and 'azan' into the ears of his other junior...He loves being a Dad.
Even this morning, I could see the smile of 'pride' on his face when we sat down to our 'surprise' breakfast, prepared by our kids. They are even preparing a surprise dinner for us tonight, and we're not supposed to open the refrigerator till then....Kelly told her father that he could take me out to lunch if he liked, but we have to be home by 6.30pm for dinner....She and Daniel also added "Daddy, you can take Mummy anywhere you want today, just the 2 of you without us - but no checking into hotels..!!" Naughty little rascals, aren't they?
And today, it's 17 years since we became husband and wife. Many things have changed since then (especially the numbers on the weighing scale). Even our love for each other has changed tremendously since the 4th February 1994....It has gotten that much stronger!
I love this man so much - he's the one who assures me when I'm uncertain, who comforts me when I'm sad, who grumbles at me when I'm being silly, who disrupts my concentration when I'm watching TV by talking to me endlessly and who spoils me rotten!
