A couple days back I received an email from Raymond, a friend whose wedding I shot a while back:

Hello semua,
We just heard yesterday, Susan got 2nd place for a writing competition for non-fiction category.
Please take a look at the attachment. Is based on Raymond’s wedding.

Enjoy,
Carla
Note: Carla is Raymond’s sister, and Susan is her daughter

———- Forwarded message ———-

Hi Mommy and Daddy,

Here’s my story, Mommy could you please forward this to Iei Stacey
and Oom Raymond. And tell them that my story one 2nd place.

Susan

PS: Due to the respect of Raymond’s family privacy, the names in the emails have been changed.
Published with permission.

I opened up the attachment and found out that maybe I’ll be wanting her autograph on her latest bestseller in the future:

*****

Smiles

There is one picture on our family album wall that always brings a good laugh when caught by the eye. In this picture, my family was laughing their heads off strolling down the quaint streets of Positano, Italy. In the summer of 2008, my family took a vacation to Italy for my Uncle Raymond’s wedding. The city of Positano as well as the country of Italy was breath-taking and unbelievably gorgeous. The ocean in Italy was not like the New England ocean in Stamford. The water was a turquoise-rich cornflower blue. It shimmered and dappled along the rugged jetties. The sky melted with the ocean, creating an endless seascape of mellow blue. The sun beamed and did the salsa during the bright day. The clouds were puffs of white smoke, curling and smothering along the crystallized blue sky. And the sand fried and slinked through your toes.

The big wedding day crept closer and closer as the days on the calendar finally wound down to July 11th , 2008. The only sounds that wedding day morning were the whirring of hairdryers, the russsshh of makeup brushes, the zzzzzzzz of razors and curling irons, and last but not least the shrieks of laughter. Everyone had prestigiously gotten ready that morning. By the time of 10 am, most of us were assembled in the hotel lobby. We all complimented each others outfits, and gave our ooooes and ahhhs and clambered into the bus that would take us to the church. On the bus the conversation was mostly giddy with excitement and bubbling with joy. I have to admit everyone looked splendid all dressed in their show-stopping and dashing-ness. Finally we caught the groom Uncle Raymond, looking very fancy in his black tux. Everyone teased him and cracked wedding day jokes as we paraded off the bus. Uncle Ray looked kind of nervous but we gave him our support.

The bus took us as far as it could go to the edge of town. I rushed towards Uncle Ray confused that we were stopping,
“Wait, aren’t we going to take a car or something?” I asked curiously. It wasn’t like we were going to walk through the town in our wedding gear and such. Uncle Ray laughed.

“The church is all the way at the end of town, how are we suppose to take a bus? The roads aren’t big enough for a bus to drive through,” Uncle Ray replied

“What so we’re walking down to the church in this!” I said glaring at my dress and formal shoes.

“Yup, don’t worry it’ll be fun,” Uncle Ray said as he started to walk along with the rest of the wedding party. My cousin and I exchanged a fearful glance, linked arms and also started to walk down the winding road. Now if you were the local people and you step outside saw a bunch of people looking they were dressed for the president’s inauguration skipping down the street and talking in some strange foreign language, boy you would stop and STARE. My cousin Bobby swung his shoulder over Uncle Ray. They were a matching duo both wearing black tuxes and white corsets. Bobby was to be the ring bearer. The tourists and people alike, stopped and took furtive or friendly glances at us as we created a scene. I squirmed uncomfortably underneath the heat of the passing stares. I was not a showcasing type of person and did not like displaying myself. I liked blending in with the crowd and looking normal instead of sticking out. But overlooking the heads of my family, no one seemed to care what everyone else thought. I liked their attitude and tried to forget about my self-consciousness and to just be plain happy. It worked and I was no longer afraid of everyone’s supposed judgments.

Above our heads there was a trellis that acted like a roof with vines and hanging plants intertwining it. I gazed above at it but did a double take. I stopped and looked up again and started laughing. Apparently, someone decided to dry a piece of lingerie on top of the trellis by throwing it up there. My cousin who was standing next to me started laughing as well. Despite my pleads, she grabbed her camera and with the approval of her brother took a picture of the lingerie. It was quite awkward as several passerby gazed up above at what my cousin was taking a picture of and rolled their eyes while muttering comments about her action.

We have finally reached the end of this picture. The picture ends but another one follows. They keep on going and going, as they should because pictures are snapshots of our life. They are meant to remind us of a story, of a memory which held so many emotions and thoughts. That day I felt overwhelmed with happiness. It wasn’t that I was in Italy, or I was wearing a pretty dress, or I was on vacation, but who I was with; my family. That little shot, of us walking down the street unfolded so many memories. They were timelessly important, even though technically it wasn’t anything extraordinary, it was just us walking down the street.

So the little things bring forth the biggest joys. Even though little things might seem little, something is only little if that person thinks it is. Because the little things might become the biggest things in your life after all and those are the things that bring smiles.

*****

From what I’ve heard, her school is one of the best in the US 🙂 So it is quite an accomplishment. I am posting this, first to let you know what a great job Carla is doing (hahaha… kapan kumpul2 lagi? Kalo ke US ya nanti :p ), and second, to remind us all that sometimes we forgot to see the world around us through a child eyes. And yes, the town, the sea, the beach, the wedding, they are all exactly like Susan’s writing. You know you are in the middle of a good writing when suddenly you can be transformed into the writers descriptions of that place (you hobbits and wizards now what I am talking about, rite?). Reading Susan words I could almost see the blue skies, the streets of Positano, and all the little stories unfolding.

For me the sweetest thing is the fact that she was inspired to write this story after looking at the pictures that I took. See the words referring to pictures in the beginning and the end of her writing? Those are my pictures! (ok edward, calm down, sit down) And really, you couldn’t find happier faces other than that printed on Raymond’s wedding albums. Families and friends attending were so relaxed and had so much fun, let alone the breathtaking setting they are in.

Susan, when you are reading this: Good job girl! Write that book that I’ll be wanting you to sign one day. Like what Will Smith said in the Pursuit of Happyness, “You can reach your dream. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.” (or… something like that, hahaha…) And please do correct me for any grammatical and spelling errors :p

Here are some of those pictures about that thing that Susan wrote: Smiles.

italy letter