This time I win

Anyone seen the movie Rocky Balboa? I’m a big fan of the Rocky character and in this movie he says this to his son: “it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!” I can identify with that. Life hits hard, and it has hit me hard in the past, but like Rocky I bounce back, I keep moving forward, and I’m so glad I did.

The flight with Emirates went quickly by, even though it was about 20 hours. They had this amazing entertainment system called ICE. In it I could choose from 100+ movies and TV series. I think I watched 6 movies on the way to Indonesia. Of course, I only got about 1 hour sleep. I even bought a sleeping mask and a special pillow to make me sleep. The entertainment was so good that sleep was an impossible dream. I had 2 stops before Jakarta. 3 hours in Dubai and then 1 hour in Kuala Lumpur. With every stop, me and Kei exchanged text messages.

My heart was racing and pulsating the closer I got to Jakarta. Expectations were sky high and I came out into the crowd of people looking for their loved ones. I found mine, as the crowd seemed to part. “Love” she said with a coy smile. My heart was racing no more, but came to a full stop as I admired her beauty. This was the girl who I exchanged text messages with, the girl from the pictures, the love of my life. “She looks even better in real life” I screamed on the inside so only my brain could hear it. “Loooove!” I said enthusiastic as I finally held her in my arms. If I had been in the pits before, I was finally on the highest mountain with a majestic view and opportunities in abundance. I almost forgot mom and dad standing next to her, but they got a hug too. Her family is truly wonderful. Her parents love me as their son, and her siblings treat me as their brother. No wonder Kei is such an amazing person with parents like that.

The 3 weeks there seemed to go so fast, but we got to do all the things we never could before, and that makes the 3 weeks better than the last 3 years. It’s about quality, not quantity. We didn’t get to go to Bali or do much sightseeing, but for me it didn’t matter one bit. I got to see Kei, I got to talk to her, touch her hair and tell her that I love her face to face.

On October 7th we got engaged on a hot Sunday evening. First I asked Kei’s parents for permission to marry her, and they had no objections. We rented this beautiful Italian place called Ti Amo and the 36 guests seemed to enjoy every second. I went down on my knees and proposed to Kei and she laughed and said: “Of course I’ll marry you!” In truth I already knew the answer, but it’s always good to hear it and especially at that moment. We put on our rings and did a celebratory toast, it was finally done. The night was ours and we took it and made it beautiful in the name of love.

I also became a Nichiren Buddhist while I was there. I never really believed in anything all my life, I only went to church at funerals. Buddhism seemed like it was made for me and I took a choice for life. Praying makes me stronger and will help me achieve all my goals in life.

I wouldn’t call my little adventure in Indonesia a movie, because it would have a sad ending. The guy leaves the girl at the airport. Heartbroken, he has no choice. However, it’s an ongoing series with lots of twists and turns and since me and Kei are directing it, you will love the ending. Maybe ending isn’t the right word. It will never end according to our marriage date 8.8.8. The number 8 is infinity, and that can be the title of our voyage.

So I’m back in England, and she’s still in Indonesia. It will be hard for us both. I will go back there in July and until then save as much money as possible. I’m sure there are lots more to tell, but it’s enough for now. Tomorrow I hope to make a picture blog with lots of pictures!

I'm engaged!

I apologize for the quality of the ring picture. It is a still frame taken from a video Kei sent me of the rings. That's her hand with the ring on. That video was taken July 29th, so I guess you can say we have been engaged for a while, and the plan was to tell the world in October when I went to Indonesia, but we couldn't wait any longer, hehe.

It's been quite a year hasn't it? Right now I am just so happy that I have her. Every morning I wake up smiling to her good morning text message to me. I still remember when I asked her to be mine on May 7th. What a great decision that was, probably the best decision of my life. We found each other long time ago, I am sure of that. I will tell you all about it in another blog.

I can't wear my ring until I get to Indonesia but that's ok. In my heart I can feel the love every day. I am so proud that my future wife Kei is wearing the ring right now. I must be the luckiest and happiest man alive. It’s Only 1.5 months now until I get there and we will have the best 3 weeks of our life, and we will start planning the wedding together. The details of that will also come in a later blog.

You know, this just goes to show that if you believe, if you really want something you can get it no matter how impossible it seems. In April when everything seemed doom and gloom I kept thinking that this is not the end, I will fight back, I will never give up, I choose to be happy no matter what. Then I got a great new job and my love Kei come into my life. And folks, the best is yet to come!

I am engaged to the most wonderful woman I have ever met. I am so thankful for you Kei, thank you for loving me, thank you for everything you give me every second of my life. Love, this is just the beginning of our happiness. I love you so much Kemala Ayu Lestari, I am so proud and happy to become your husband.

Tomorrow is the day…

Today when I woke up I felt like I had a potato stuck down my throat. I couldn’t speak either, as I had no voice. However, thanks to some German medicine I have successfully recovered my voice and the potato is gone.

So tomorrow is the big day. It was supposed to be the most important day in my life, the happiest day in my life. I am of course talking about the marriage between me and Amy. Instead it will be just another day. It’s sad that it turned out the way it did. I won’t lie and say I am not disappointed in her decision. I’ve debated with myself whether I want to remove all of our past, like deleting parts of the 360 blog but I’ve decided to keep it all because that was real, this is who I am. She deleted our past from the day she broke up with me. I don’t blame her, it’s her decision. Life goes on, and what happened is part of my life, its part of who I am so I will not delete it.

Facebook is pretty cool. I decided to put up a profile there a while ago, and yesterday I was contacted by two people from my past. One who I worked with as a graphics designer in Ålesund and one I went to a course with in Tromsø. I decided to do a search for people in my past, and almost everyone is there. It seems that it is the place to be, although I read in the newspaper the other day that all this networking business is making people sick. I am not there much though, I just get e-mails whenever someone sends me a message or something like that.

Hope everyone is doing well.