Turtle

My friend tied the knot in Singapore, and I stayed in the diamond-shaped island over this weekend.

Travelling to Singapore is nothing but a three-hour nonstop flight. Before departure, I'd been reading a book on decision making but I decided not to bring the unfinished book with me this time. The idea is for something less serious; it's joyful time to go with the newlyweds and witness a couple saying "I do." Of course, "I do" is a big decision too. I just preferred to read something more romantic, and picked an easy-to-read book Making Marriage Simple.

It took barely a few pages, on the bus ride to airport, to get me absorbed in the book. The chapter on Turtle and Hailstorm simply cut to the heart of my problem. Truth be told, I used to be the Turtle who stays hunkered down in the shell at times (okay, a lot of the time) when my wife (dare I say) becomes storm-like. Turtles are said to have long life. And this has to do with turtle's stubbornness not to stick its neck out. The strategy of retreating into the shell holds true for many husbands like me. It appears much safer to hide when the dark clouds are gathering. Turtles aren't keen to "show up" when the tensions get high. Who would be?

As I read through the chapter, I figured out pretty easily that a turtle firmly stuck in the shell could have saved life, but that is incompatible with marriage. Let's face it, running away won't soothe the storm cloud away.

Don't try to run away from a golf-ball-sized hail, I learned, unless you want to receive an even bigger hailstorm.

Guaranteed.