(Your Love's Put Me at the) TOP OF THE WORLD

If you go back and read my very first entry on my blog in March 2005, you will read there that Edge and I planned to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge on the occasion of our 10th wedding anniversary. I also said that climbing the bridge was one of the things I just HAD to do before I die. Well, we have done just that!

There were several times when I was deciding against doing the climb, not because I was scared to, but because it was a bit expensive, and I thought Edge was not that into it. I figured this was a pretty expensive thing to do for something you are not into. But Edge said he was game, and that we should do it. I also thought to myself, hey, it's your 10th year anniversary, live a little! Besides, Papa was here to take care of the boys while Edge and I went off to conquer the bridge, and Edge and I both found ourselves not having to go to work today, so what else could we ask for?





As you can see from the pictures, we had to wear these shapeless outfits that had lots of straps to attach numerous things to. We had to strap on caps, shades, our radio sets (for the tour guide's commentary), and, believe it or not, scuncis! I had to remove my own scunci, and wear their scunci, which was strapped to my outfit. Of course, their scunci was tiny and could not hold my hair tightly, which annoyed me for a little while, but I quickly recovered. We put on belts which had these little metal balls that attached to cables along the way. Although they were supposed to ensure our safety, I think it was more of a deterrent for us to wander off to places we had no business being anyway. Edge and I decided not to wear caps because a) we did not want to have hat hair and b) we did not want to cast a shadow on our faces when we had our picture taken!

The climb was not scary at all. If you look at the shape of the Harbour Bridge, the arc is not intimidating at all. It was a very leisurely climb, except for the first part where we had to climb up 3 sets of ladders that were almost at 90 degrees angles, and 3 sets of ladders at the same angle on our way back. Because of my asthma, and I guess my lack of a fitness regimen in my life, I was out of breath after climbing those ladders and I had to stop every so often to recover. Luckily, the pace was very relaxed as we were encouraged to savor the fresh air, appreciate the views and all the majesty of the Sydney Harbour.

It was simply breath-taking! (My breath was literally taken away too, but for different reasons already stated above! Hahaha!) Edge and I stood 300 feet above sea level and gazed at the Opera House, thinking, two years ago, we stood there and declared that we would climb this Bridge. At that time, it seemed like such a daunting task, but here we were, doing it. Two years ago, it seemed like a luxury because it costs quite a bit, but here we were, staring back at the place where we made that promise to ourselves. For me, the Bridge, MY Bridge, will serve as a reminder to me, that dreams are possible, and that money is meant to be spent on achieving those dreams. I do not want to let money ever get in the way of doing things that my family or I want to do.

When our guide declared that we had to start the trek down, Edge said he did not want to go down yet. I had mixed feelings. I loved the view, I loved just being up there, but my legs were wobbly and I was feeling very weak (I think it was because it was my 2nd day of "that time of the month" and because it was already 2:00 pm and we had not had our lunch) I just wanted to sit down. I felt like all my energy had been drained from me and I was running on the last minutes of my battery.

Don't get me wrong. It was all worth it! Worth the fatigue, worth the inconvenience of having my hair flying all over the place, worth every cent that we spent. But I seriously did not have much energy left for anything else after that, even after eating a heavy meal at Wagamama. We walked around the city a bit, but I was too tired even to do my favorite past time of shopping-shopping. And on the train, I slept.

On our first anniversary, Edge and I celebrated it at Enchanted Kingdom. I remember riding the ferris wheel, and when we were on the top, we looked out at the houses in the newly built subdivisions across the park. We asked ourselves, will we ever be able to afford one of those? We even visited the display homes that day just to see those houses we saw from the top of the ferris wheel. We fell in love with one moderately sized house, which to our dismay, cost P2.8 million. This is another one of our dreams, to buy our own house. And not just any house, but a nice one. Edge wants a pool. I want a nice kitchen. And a back yard for the children to play in. And yes, this is an expense that I'm willing to pay. No doubt about it. So, I think it is not too bad that 10 years later, although we still don't have that house that we were dreaming of, it is a definite possibility should we decide to stick it out here.

On my Multiply account, I joked that now that I had conquered the Bridge, I could now go home to Manila. But I just realized, there is still another Bridge for me to conquer, and that is to get that dream house that we want.

Could be.....who knows......?
It's only just out of reach
Down the block, on a beach
Under a tree
I got a feeling there's a miracle due
Gonna come true
Coming to me!

Who knows indeed!