Inspiration. Determination. The Things That Drive Us.

[Stealthpanda]

Along time ago, I posted something... with alot of grammatical errors apparently, on a card game forum. I read it from time to time, and draw inspiration from it when I am down. Man I botched alot of grammar in this, but I refuse to fix it. I would rather it be "broken english" and maintain the integrity.
Still... I took an experience, roughly, over the course of a year, and poured into it. I read a posted recently in the chat room, this, and even though I was going to wait til April for the 10 year anniversary of it all, I felt inspired. Moved. So I will post it now.

INC Copy Past. No TL;DR. Sorries

This will be huge, but to those who can bear it all, I will be eternally grateful.

I will start off my saying my name is Jason. My soul and aura is named Azurai. I am of american nationality, and reside in South New Jersey.

Ever since 2 days after my 18th birthday, April 3rd 2004, I was blessed by someone. This person now is on there way back to the USA in under 5 days, and is my wife-to-be. I am 19 years old, and she is 18 years old. Prejudice rules supreme, in all countries, and i was able to experience this here in the US, and there, in the Philippines.

Her father hates me, and has done everything in his power of a human being, to keep us from being together. I am young, I am foolish, I took the bait. Dont be so sure. I was not going to let anyone keep me from the women that I love. It was just not going to happen, so easily. Time passes, tempers rage on, and ultimatums are not adhered to. We had our chance to live by an adults way, and now we were forced to deal with that which we had created. July, 2004, war broke out with my family and i moved in with my neighbor. My family could not accept my love for someone, to any extent. My neighbors son, and best friend of mine to this day, was dating my fiancee's sister.

September 5th, 2004, she departed back from Philadelphia Airport to NAIA(Maynila, Philippines Airport). At 12:30PM I was in school when i noticed the time, and a tear went down my face. I knew deep down that things were taking a turn, for the worse. "He won..." was all I could think of for days after it happened, and without a control on what the things that would happen next, I worked, tirelessly at Wendys 40 hours a week, before and after this happening, saving up money. For what? I questioned to myself day after day, but I knew what it was for, my mind just couldnt perceive it in enough time...

September 11th, 2004. "He left us here." I emotionally died on that date, at 8:11PM. Her father left her with her mother in the Philippines, and departed back for the USA, September 20th, 2004. What was I to do... It always crossed my mind that I posibly might never see her again, because her father had taken both, her ARC(green card/etc) and passport with him. Work was all I did until the 24th of September when I dropped out of school and concretely decided: I am going to the Philippines. I had never been on a plane before, and I have only been from PA all the way down to FL. 8 states or so. Thats is. I was now determined to end this mans nonsense. I was never going to beaten by him, and lose her forever. Work, work, work. Passport aquired by October 14th, 2004, 155$. Ticket purchased on November 1st, 2004, 984$ . Now let me tell you, I have never bought anything in my life that cost 1000$ ever before. Anyway, Visa for 2 month stay in the Philippines, November 8th 2004, 30$. I was set 1 week before my date of departure. Every loose end was taken care of. every knot was tied securely. I missed my mothers birthday, due to us still being at war, and I cried myself to sleep that night. To this date, I will never do what i have done to that women, ever again. I left November 15th, 2004, for the Philippines. I have never been on a plane before, and 26 hours is the most horrendous thing in the world, timewise, next to 12 time zones.

If anyone is familiar with the Philippines and is reading this, I'll continue to say the names of places Ive stayed. I spent 1 and a half months in Tropical Village, San Francisco, General Trias, Cavite. I lived with my fiancee, and spent thanksgivin(not celebrated), christmas(celebrated in a mediocre fashion), and new years eve and day( THE LOUDEST HOLIDAY I EXPERIENCED. PAPUTOK(firecrackers) OUT THE WAZOO!) Liquor is DIRT cheap there, and even though I dont drink for physical conditons reasons, I did endure my first shot of anything strong. Emperador. (sp?) Oargh, that burns. Anyways, Prior to this, November 29th, the tsunami that occured, and I was safe in Cavite, but not all places were this untouched by mother nature. I have no clue but ALOT of people and sources are saying it was December 26th. I have no clue why a police report we had made, was stating the tsunami occured on November 29th. =/

Anyways, after that me and her moved to Brgy Boboin, Infanta, Quezon. This place was horifically devastated by the tsunami. With a lack of trees to hold the soil, due to construction, mud conquered everything from places like Real, Kiloloron, Comon, Abiawin, all the way down to Dinaihikan. (forgive me for incorrect spellings) Ive never seen so much death and destruction... I was tormented mentally for the first few days by it. I lived in a wooden shack, something to this day I miss like the end of the world. I miss poverty, and everything else I had to go through there. I miss it direly, and I miss waking up to the mountainous view I had. I've never really get that experience again. *tears*

Those 2 months were the remainder of my trip in the Philippines. I could write more, but it could take a while. I'm not fluent in the language used generally around where I lived, but I do know alot of Tagalog. I've been told my natives from the Philippines that the place where I lived in Quezon, was the best place to learn real Tagalog. Her mother and rest of the family there love me. I cannot excentuate how much I am loved by them. I know about some other dialects as well, her mothers natural born dialect is Bicol, her fathers is Batangas(sp?) and Ilocano (sp?). My friend knows Visayas, even. I know who there current president is, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and ex-president, Joseph Estrada.

This is my single greatest experience in the world. I will never get to know how much there is to the rest of this world, save his experience. To say I am more experienced about some places in the world, is an understatement. The Filipino culture I experienced while I was there is something I love now. I dont hate rice because of eating it everyday, but I love it.

After conquering her dad, and being able to have everything in full effect to get her here, I am happy now. I will never lose her agian, Distance couldnt overcome us. Time couldnt bind us. Other people couldnt make us falter.

If love for one person is the significance in a part of this, then I say this much:
-Never give up, and Always have Faith.-

No matter what, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

The purpose for this thread is to enlighten some, and to question others.
I want to know what you think of this, and if you have any similar experiences. Where I live in the US, and basically all over, being faithful is seldom, especially among the young. I will die and still be with her. I promise you all this.
Please respond if you have felt any sincerity in any of my thread, I thank you all, and as always,
Keep Faith.
Thank you,
Azurai Aeon

^I guess I have been using this ending for a while... Irony. Some thing have changed, some have only become stronger. One thing is certain.. I am definately 10 years older... heh.
Thanks,
Jason

[Ragu310]

Wow! That's a great and powerful story! I just shared it with my girlfriend and a few close friends. Thanks for sharing!

[sQuidvision]

I really enjoyed reading that, thanks for sharing!

[Stealthpanda]

Thanks. A while ago I realized all I wanted was comments from people. I don't know whether it motivated me through tougher times, or what. But now I just realize its nice to know that THAT story is my reality. Its quite powerful. Moving. Also, that I was a weird fellow when I was 18. lol.
Thanks again,
Jason