When Kalvin and I bought a house last year, we felt what everyone feels: excited!

We were still engaged at the moment, and yet we were so excited just by imagining the beginning of a new phase in our life.

“Soon,” we said to each other. We were excited over figuring where we’d place the couch, flower vases, and how my walk-in closet would look like. We were excited about taking the next big step and living together – just the two of us, building a place that we would call home.

And then soon turns into now. It’s been a week since we first moved to our new house. During the first week, we were so busy packing a lot of things and moving out – and just today that we can finally sit down and it suddenly hits us: this is our house. This is our home.

And I have learned one other thing: I have officially left home.

The morning of my last day at my parents’ house was filled with exhaustions. I just got back from Japan, and I still had a lot to pack. So it was quite a normal, hectic day for all of us. We had breakfast individually. I saw my dad in his office and my mom in the living room.

It didn’t hit me I was actually moving out until today. It is finally happening. Kalvin and I are finally building a home together – a really small family of us. It’s exciting, and nostalgic at the same time. Living at home is about being surrounded by your parents 24/7.

Living at home is about being surrounded by your parents 24/7. It is the kind of familiar warmth that you have been experiencing for your whole life – like being taken care of when you’re sick and having your mom insisted on making you a warm soup. It’s about experiencing the firsts of everything in that house within the comfort of your first family. It’s about all the unpublicized moments spent between you and your parents that make leaving them behind so heavy.

It’s about realizing that Kalvin and I are free to do whatever things we want, choose whichever path we want, and live however life we want – and yet eventually we are both of us. We are entering a new stage. Although every new stage is an unknown venture and transition is never easy – but we know we are ready.

This is us and our next big step. We can’t wait to share our next journey with you!

Photo by Andreas Hartanto from Axioo

Make up by Mimi Kwok

Dress by Yefta Gunawan