A Wedding n A ...

What made Esther's marriage so special was the fact that it was inter-racial and inter-faith. You would think that living in a multi-cultural country would make this automatically acceptable. Unfortunately, not really.

I must admit that when Esther first broke the news to us a couple of years back, we, her close chums, were very taken aback. Some decisions she made would be irreversible. And we wanted her to be very, very sure of the steps that she was taking.

We, each of us, told her our points of view. Once. And when she confirmed that she knew what she was doing, we laid the matter to rest. And decided to be supportive and be there for her. After all, what matters is that she is happy and at peace with her decision.

The same thing happened when she broke the news to her parents. It must have been harder for them to take than us, her friends. But in the end, her folks realised that their daughter was truly in love with a good man and gave their full blessings.

As her father gave the speech yesterday, I felt a lump on my throat. He said that this was a very happy moment for him, because his daughter is happy. If there was ever a moment where Esther doubted of her father's love, it must have been completely erased last night when he verbalised his blessings to them.

And when the time for the family yam seng came, Esther looked at almost everyone of us right in our eyes. Her eyes were brimming with happiness and thankfulness. For our presence. For our support. For our blessings. Her husband also thanked everyone from his heart as he grasped his wife's hands lovingly.

For what is a marriage without the blessings of your family and loved ones?

Danny and Esther, congrats on your marriage. Your happiness in finding each other and your tenacity to brave through the odds to get to this stage is deeply encouraging to us. May God's sweetest blessings be upon your marriage and may your love be a legacy to your children and your children's children.