Sun And Moon

Today, August 21, 2017, there is a Total Solar Eclipse – the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, at one point totally covering the sun and turning day into night.

Today is also the 12th anniversary of our church wedding. For the special occasion, we put together a CD of our favorite love songs that we played during the ceremony and the reception afterwards. One of the songs is Sun and Moon from the musical Miss Saigon. American military husband, Asian wife – it fits. Of course, our story turned out better than that of Kim and Chris. For truly, we have been blessed, my husband and I.

KIM
you are sunlight and I moon
joined by the gods of fortune
midnight and high noon
sharing the sky
we have been blessed, you and I

CHRIS
you are here like a mystery
I’m from a world that’s so different
from all that you are
how in the light of one night
did we come so far?

KIM
outside day starts to dawn

CHRIS
your moon still floats on high

KIM
the birds awake

CHRIS
the stars shine too

KIM
my hands still shake

CHRIS
I reach for you

BOTH
and we meet in the sky!

KIM
you are sunlight and I moon
joined here
bright’ning the sky
with the flame
of love

BOTH
made of
sunlight
moonlight

Ye Are Blood Of My Blood, And Bone Of My Bone

Today is my and my husband’s 12th wedding anniversary, the first of two we celebrate – one civil, the other church.

This special time always makes me think of wedding vows from romance books. One of my favorites is the Gaelic Wedding Vow. This has been used in many romance books, especially those set in the Scottish Highlands, most famously Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. One of my favorite new authors of Historical Romance, Kerrigan Byrne, also used it in the first book of her Victorian Rebels series – The Highwayman.

“She looked up at him with those eyes, and Dougan experienced a pang of love so intense and ferocious it felt as though it didn’t belong in this holy room.
He began the incantation he remembered from watching once from behind his mother’s skirts when he was young.

‘Ye are blood of my blood, and bone of my bone.
I give ye my body, that we two might be one.
I give ye my spirit, ’til our life shall be done.’

Farah needed a bit of prompting to remember all the words, but she said them with such fervency that Dougan was touched. Slipping a ring of a willow herb vine onto her finger, he recited the sacred olde vows with perfect clarity, but translated them into English for her sake.

‘I made ye my heart
At the rising of the moon.
To love and honor,
Through all our lives.
May we be reborn,
May our souls meet and know.
And love again.
And remember.’

She looked lost and mystified for a moment, then announced, “Me, too.”

I’ll be writing a wedding scene for Book 2 of my Carpe Diem Chronicles series and this certainly has given me inspiration.

Celebrating Loving Day Every Day

On June 12, we commemorate the 50th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, the landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court which invalidated the state laws prohibiting interracial marriage.

I celebrate because I’m a direct beneficiary of this decision. My husband’s American, I’m Filipino. He’s white, I’m brown. In 2005, we were able to marry legally because we could, because we were allowed. I celebrate not just on June 12, but every day. Thanks to Richard and Mildred Loving. Thanks to the US Supreme Court in 1967.

The Lovings’ story, my own story, and the stories of more than half a million interracial couples are the inspirations for my books. I’m also encouraged by the great multicultural romances I’ve been reading recently. Surely, they too have been inspired by real-life stories of mixed-race pairings. Some of them are: Courtney Milan’s Cyclone series beginning with Trade Me (Chinese-American heroine); Alisha Rai’s upcoming Forbidden Hearts series with its first book Hate to Want You (Japanese-Hawaiian heroine); and Tif Marcelo’s North to You (Filipino-American hero), the first book of her Journey to the Heart series.

All of these books show the love between two people, regardless of race or skin color. All of them prove that love is, indeed, color blind.

Photo credits: Love is Color Blind – quotesgram.com, Loving photos – lovingday.org, book covers – Bing images, and Share the Love – RWA

Mommy, Thank You for Giving Me the Love of Reading

You may have tangible wealth, untold caskets of jewels, and coffers of gold;

Richer than I you can never be, I had a mother who read to me.

~ Strickland Gillilan, The Reading Mother

I also have a mother who used to read to me. And on this Mother’s Day, I’d like to honor her and thank her, not only for giving me life, but also for encouraging my literary pursuits. All my life she has always nurtured my love of reading. Seldom was I scolded for bringing a book to the dining table. My poor eyesight was not blamed on reading in the dark or on reading in a moving vehicle. It was TV’s fault, never books. She could not admonish me for reading too much. After all, she was the one who taught me to read. My mom, Marieta Ruaza, was a teacher – to me and my siblings and to thousands of kids in the Philippines for over forty years.

She was also a short story writer. If writing is a hereditary trait, then I must have gotten it from her. I hope my son will get the writing gene, too. If not, I can only be happy to know that he appreciates my reading to him. Maybe, someday he will write a poem about his Reading Mom, too.