Happy 3rd Anniversary, bby!

Hey guys. Sorry I kind of dropped off the radar for a bit. Been busy these past couple of days. With the anniversary and everything else. :)

Let me start with the 9th, the day of our 3rd anniversary. Things actually didn't start out pretty well. Cale woke up feeling sick. Apparently, he had come down with the flu overnight -- HARD.

Now, many would say, "What's the big deal? It's just a flu." Well, actually it is a big deal. Cale rarely comes down with anything. Among us three, I'm the one most prone to getting sick. Cale keeps saying that my immune system is really weak and that I should start drinking multivitamins as part of my daily routine. That's Cale, looking out for me. And this is me, nodding yes and then forgetting (or somehow, refusing) to do so.

The thing is, Cale gets sick probably once or twice a year. But when he gets sick, he gets it bad -- REAL bad.

Last year, he had a problem with his digestive system. We can't exactly remember WHAT he ate that time, but based from Cale's previous experience, he believes that whatever he ate gave him food poisoning.

He pooped relentlessly and frequently -- he ran to the bathroom every 15 minutes, or so. His feces were hot liquid. He's a man who enjoys eating a lot of spicy stuff -- could that be a contributing factor? Anyway, Darren (his younger brother), suggested that he should drink some medicine, eat lots and lots of fruits and vegetables along with some Gatorade. I know, I know. What the hell's the Gatorade for? Apparently, Gatorade helps regulate bowel movement. Please note that further citation is needed for this piece of information. Personally, I haven't heard of this Gatorade "remedy" until then. But Darren has a way of knowing a lot of useful things, and so far, none of his advice had ever proved wrong. So we went with the Gatorade and fruits remedy. After a few days, Cale's poop had not improved. It was still liquid. It was still hot, and it was still frequent. As a matter of fact, his "diarrhea/food poisoning" had gotten worse. Now, in addition to frequent, hot, liquid poop, it was also starting to turn an eerie color of blue-green. Kind of like the guys from Avatar, except greener.

That was the first time I had ever heard of blue-green poop and it sort of scared and amused me, at the same time. Still, we weren't making any progress on his health improvement and we were starting to run out of ideas. Cale did not want to end up confined in a hospital. "It's not my thing," he would say whenever Darren or I brought up the idea. Like I said, he is really stubborn.

Cale made the decision. He said his stomach needed to be "cleansed", and by cleansed, he meant not eating and only drinking water until he got better. He believed that his stomach had taken in way too much food and now all that needed to be "vacuumed out", one way or another. It sort of seemed like an impossible feat -- not eating for God knows how long; Cale gets hungry pretty fast. A 3-hour interval between meals seems like his maximum. He's not a heavy-set kind of guy, as a matter of fact, he had a hot, contoured body when I first met him. He had the right build, not too wide on the shoulder, an appropriate-sized chest and a flat stomach. I'm not had abs because as far as I know, he's never had any abs in his life. It just so happens that he has a flat tummy. At the time when I first met him, he was 5'7" tall and weighed 65 kg. Over the years though, I'm not sure what happened. When we first moved back here, he started losing some of his weight and he looked somewhat thin for his height. Shortly after that though, he started gaining weight. His face started getting rounder over time, and ... his once flat tummy, started becoming a belly, and only recently did he start developing my favorite love handles. I don't know. I just prefer his body now over his previous body. What can I say? I like them big.

Again, I digress. So he started his cleansing ritual. I doubt it was going to work, but surprisingly, a couple of days after, he started feeling better. I couldn't believe his cleansing ritual actually worked, but I am grateful, all the same.

Jumping back to the present, or at least the recent present, Cale got sick BIG TIME. He came down with the flu. And he had it much worse than Darren and I did the day before. He was shivering violently, even though his skin was burning hot. He couldn't breathe properly because of his sinuses; his right ear was partially deaf; his head ached; and his body was rocking with pain. Now you tell me, still not a big deal?

I admit that it wasn't the best way to start our anniversary, but I didn't mind. As long as I was with him, I was happy. The original plan was to go to a fancy mall and eat at Pizza Hut and have donuts from Krispy Kreme. Simple, not over the top, just the way we like it. Of course, none of that could happen anymore -- not while Cale is feeling this sick.

So, after making him a cup of hot milk, I went down to buy medicine for him. On my way down, I met a small boy. He was probably 4 or 5 years old and he was really cute. Let me lay out the conversation for you:

cute kid: Ate, where did you come from?

me: From upstairs. Why?

cute kid: Upstairs? Like, from the sky?

me: The sky? Why do you ask that?

cute kid: Coz' you look like an angel.

That is the sweetest thing any stranger has ever said to me. I couldn't help smile and laugh and blush all at the same time. That really made my day. I wanted to thank the kid but his mother came and took him away. Still, I was grateful.

It took a few moments for me to regain composure, after which, I proceeded on with my task. I went to the Generics pharmacy, first. I told the pharmacy that I needed medicine for the flu. She asked what state was the patient in. I explained and she recommended Cefalexin (to be taken three times a day) and Paracetamol (to be taken every four hours).

After that, I decided to visit the fruit vendor near our apartment. She always gives a good price and her products are never a day older than they should be. I bought a few apples and some bananas -- hoping they would help Cale get better soon.

I came home, and saw Cale wrapped up in a thick blanket with the fan off. I checked him. He was resting and didn't seem to have heard me come in. I checked his temperature. It was still high. I then proceeded to scheduling the times for Cale to take his medicine. I don't want to forget and I want to be able to give them to him on time.

I gingerly woke him up to give him his first pills. He drank them without hesitation and went back to sleep.

When he woke up, his temperature didn't improve much. Neither did his body pains and sinuses. By that time, it was already time for his next pill. But he had to eat something again before he could drink it. So, I cooked some soup for him. Made him eat it all (just one bowl). He ate it but constantly complained how much it lacked salt. I tasted it and it didn't. I told him that his sinuses are keeping him from enjoying the taste. He didn't say anything after that and finished the bowl in a jiffy. He drank his medicine and then, for some reason, started doing push-ups next to the sofa. What are you doing? He said he needed to sweat so he can break his fever and eat Pizza Hut.

I looked at him like he had just said something in Swahili with a bad accent.

He didn't see it, of course, and continued doing push-ups. Are you serious? I don't know how many push ups he did but it was enough to get him sweating. After that, he went looking for something under the sofa. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for -- a set of weights, 10 lbs each, if I'm not mistaken.

Now what are you doing?

What does it look like I'm doing>

I don't know, you tell me.

He ignored me and started doing sets. I didn't know whether I should stop him and tell him to lay back down and rest. But as proven last time, it was his decision that helped him get better much more quickly. So, I just watched him do sets. Just in case he needed a spot.

When he got tired and was sweating profusely, he put the weights back under the sofa and sat next to me. Woo! I feel so much better now.

I knew he was forcing himself to feel well, all for the sake of the pizza. I told him that I knew what he was doing and that no matter how many push-ups he does or how many times he lifts those weights, we are not going to Pizza Hut until he fully recovers.

In response, he pretended like he was a baby crying, seeking for some affection, as he always does when he wants something so badly. It was a cute and irritating act, all at the same time. It was cute because men don't usually show their feelings. It's irritating, too, because Cale knows pretending to be a baby only woos me into giving in to whatever he wanted.

This time, though, I was determined not to give in. It was for his own good, anyway.

He then quit the baby act and returned back to normal. And then he said something that in my eyes, deserves to be in the list of sweet things he ever said and did for me.

Baby, it's not just the pizza I want. Today is our third anniversary and I don't want to ruin it because of a stupid flu. This is our day and I want to make it a really special and happy one.

I smiled and hugged him right then and there. So, we reached a compromise. Instead of going out and eating at Pizza Hut, we decided to order and have it delivered here. We can do that for dessert, as well.

I then went to Pizza Hut's website and started picking out what Cale and Darren might like for dinner. I checked out a tab that said promos. One promo caught my eye in particular -- The Cheeseburger Pizza Party Feast. It included one family sized Cheeseburger pizza, one super family-sized Hawaiian Supreme thin crust, one variety box (sort of like a sampler of all their appetizers, from buffalo wings to garlic bread), a family-sized spaghetti carbonara and two 1.5 L pepsi blue sodas. For P1,499.00, it seemed like a sweet deal and ordered right away.

I figured they would call to confirm my order soon, so I decided to take a quick shower. Apparently, it wasn't quick enough. I was still shampooing my hair when Cale came knocking at the door. I could hear my phone ringing and hurriedly open the door to take my phone with soapy hands. I ended having a conversation with one of the Pizza hut online delivery agents in the bathroom. How weird was that. In the end, the agent confirmed that my order will be delivered in 30 minutes or so.

38 minutes later, my phone beeped and this time, it was the guard at the gate. In his text, he said that Pizza Hut had a delivery for me.

Cale wanted to come with me to help me bring in the food. I didn't have to fight him over this, so I just let him come.

Remember the Hot Dot on the pizza box? That wasn't what indicated that the pizzas were hot; it was the wet-from-steam, almost melting cardboard boxes they were in. I paid the man and took the pizzas back up.

Everything was set up. After a few picture-taking, we wanted to watch a movie, and what movie can be better than Fast and Furious 6?!

It was already released last May (I think), but we haven't had the chance to watch the movie yet. So, I connected the laptop to the TV through an HDMI cable. I surfed the net from there and found a link where we could watch the movie online.

Excuse me for this, but FUCK was it amazing!

That is the only movie series I will never get tired of watching, EVER. Furious 6 is also the only action movie where I cried. I absolutely cried at the part where Giselle decided to let go of Han's grip to reach in for her gun and shoot the enemy from behind Han, in the process, giving up her own life. That was a real heartbreaker. Throughout the rest of the movie though, especially at the beginning, the three of us couldn't stop screaming with excitement. Especially when parts of every movie from 1 to 5 flashed across the screen in tune with the awesome song, "We Own It" by 2Chainz. Fuck, fuck, fuck. That was just simply the best movie of all time, hands down.

At the end of the day, our anniversary turned out better than I expected and even hoped for. At the end of that night, we both enjoyed each other's gifts to one another. For Cale, a platinum steel 2009 Nissan GTR diecast. For me, a D&G Light Blue Eau de Parfum.

At the end of that night, I had to thank the Lord for making our anniversary the best ever, for giving me Cale as my boyfriend, for staying strong with him even after all those years, oh gosh, for everything.