Skippidy do dah

I just realized that I skipped writing about the early years of marriage (two) and the pregnancy stage and dove straight into Sophie Ann's birth! Clearly this is why I cannot cut it as a journalist as my timeline is all wrong - plus I am not sure I will remember all the facts after so long a time. However, it must be said that trying never hurts, so here goes: an attempt (or two or three) about the missing links.

In order for you guys to get a clear picture of early coupled/dating life - I have to say it is no different from living in a mixed dorm - the bathroom, kitchen, living room and hallway time is up for grabs. First come, first served, unless the person with the loudest voice decides to use it. In our case, Christian and I didn't really have this issue as he was a morning shower man and I was a "I'll wash when I'm dirty" kind of girl. At that time though, in order to make it seem like I was being a dutiful gf, I passed my flexible bathing regime as "you go first honey, I love you."

It is also never easy sharing a living space with someone who is not physically you. Their habits, cleaning techniques (or lack thereof) and relaxing timetables are all designed to drive you up the wall. In a small space (hello London), these issues are magnified to an nth degree, the "nth" magic exponent being dependent on how much love, compromise, or even "oh I give up" between each couple. Christian and I had a lot of the first and third, so it was better than we expected.

Our first flat was a first floor, one bedroom apartment in a conversion (house that was re-modeled into several flats) in Kilburn. The bedroom was a decent size with enough closet space for him (not for me), but the kitchen was joined to the living room, and consisted of a small dorm-sized fridge (no freezer), a small cooking range (no oven), and a sink. Thankfully the bathroom was modern (no bath, great shower), albeit with weak water pressure. Two plumbers later and the issue still stands - making it take twice as long to have clean hair.

Small as it was, it was ours (meaning, we paid the rent), and that meant something. It was a bit of an independent stake-out; what we hoped would be our first step into the property market (we are still stepping around - more on this later). While Christian's parents came and lamented on how small the space was (I've no doubt my parents would have reacted the same way as the entire flat was the size of my bedroom in Manila), we nontheless appreciated on how it was cozy and made us run into each other a lot which, as new live-ins in the honeymoon phase, was lovely.

The neighborhood was ideal as well, as we were five minutes away from the tube, and ten minutes away from a bustling (if unsafe) high street. We could get groceries delivered (as we were both working), had a park nearby to walk Warrick in (we gave him a daily tour of the druggies, the hoodies with mean Staff dogs) where he had his own posse consisting of two huge rotweilers, several staff pups and a jack russel. In retrospect it may not have been the most secure livng area, but it was what we could afford and what we knew best.

A lot of people don't know this but, when I first came to London, I lived in a rented basement room not far from the flat I was to share with Christian. It was rented out by a family of three who lived above me. The basement had two rooms (so I had several roommates), a small laundry room with a portable cooking range so it also served as a kitchen, and a small shared bathroom with tub and shower. Again, it was all I could afford (£120 a week!) and which made sense at that time as I was rarely there due to work trips. When my mom and Jo visited, she wanted to see where I was living but I was adamant not to take her there. I am sure she would have cried if she saw the only window I had was a small rectangular pane that would show me views of people's feet as they walked by!

This was the reason why the one bedroom was already a luxury for me, as well as for Christian as it meant we could be together in a lively area, for a reasonable cost. If it meant that we could experience London life in that way, even without living like royalty, it was still a good adventure to have with a new husband. It made me realize that small things can make you happy, and up to today, I believe that no matter how small the space, there will always have room for contentment and happiness.