- A hopeful romantic makes 8 his guide to love and commitment.
- He based his lucky number on the symbol of infinity in mathematics.
- The belief – which he says has worked for him – comes from his fascination with the concept of infinity as “a symbol of the innumerable, the unbounded one.”
Forget Filipino soap operas and Korean dramas. Filipinos have always been fascinated and even obsessed with the idea of forever or spending eternity with their one great love. After all, true love should have no end, and don’t we always feel a tug in our hearts when we hear about great love stories?
I am not immune to these beliefs. Besides, I am a hopeful romantic so I even made this belief the “guiding principle” in my then eight-year relationship with my then-fiance, Marian Grace Domingo.
So, I made it a point to mark what would be significant dates in my relationship with Marian during the eighth day of the month.
A laid down figure “8,” after all, is the symbol of infinity in mathematics. And when we finally became a couple on Oct. 8, 2005, that’s when I realized that the figure “8” may just be our lucky number.
It was John Wallis, an English mathematician, who introduced the symbol for infinity in 1655. It is commonly used in Mathematics or Physics to express that some things are limitless.
I was fascinated by the concept of infinity. It is a symbol of the innumerable, the unbounded one. Since the hopeful romantic was in me, I wanted to apply it in my love life and I believed it worked.
Marian was born on Sept. 8 while I was born on Jan. 24. By insisting on using the figure “8” as our lucky number or lucky charm, I have to point out to her and many of our friends that 2 multiplied by 4 would be 8.
But I wasn’t always loyal to this belief. This is why my first attempt at proposing to Marian was more of a blunder than a proposal. It was one of the few times I didn’t follow my own belief on 8 being our lucky number.
Although I bought an engagement ring on Feb. 8, 2012, I proposed a few days later in Hong Kong, Disneyland. I didn’t plan it enough for my proposal to fall on the eighth of that month. The result was dismal because I did not plan my moves at all.
I was not able to propose the way I wanted. I could not utter a word. Because of that, she did not say ‘yes’ to me. I just gave her the ring and she laughed off the blunder. I really don’t know if we were already engaged. It was a mess.
But in May of that same year, I asked permission from Marian’s parents to marry their daughter. Our wedding should’ve been on Dec. 8 that year still in accordance with my belief.
Fate, however, seemed to disagree.
My original plan was to marry her on Dec. 8, but our preferred churches and hotels were already booked on that date. So we decided to move it the year after. Perhaps, we were destined to marry in our eighth year.
But I am not taking any chances so I proposed anew to Marian on Feb. 8, 2013, a few months before we are supposed to get married. I wanted to make sure that this time, nothing will go wrong.
Finally, after careful planning and making sure to follow our lucky number, everything fell into place.
With the help of my friends, Pastor and now Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) Commissioner Greco Belgica and businessman Justine Po, I proposed again to Marian aboard a yacht while cruising along Manila Bay.
We had our wedding set for June 8, 2013, with eight pairs of principal sponsors and entourage.
Maybe it is baseless. Maybe it is even silly. But then, if you truly love someone so much, you will do everything to make your relationship last forever even if that means going to great lengths to follow a certain lucky charm.
Fast forward to 2021, we now have two daughters whose names start with H (Harriet and Heather), the eighth letter of the alphabet. When they were baptized, they both had eight pairs of godparents.
And by the way, we’re celebrating our eighth wedding anniversary this year. So maybe, in the end, my silly belief on figure 8 really did work because now I have my three lucky girls.