A Story I’ve Been Meaning to Tell
A few days ago, I wrote about how I haven’t been posting much lately even though social media is always at the back of my mind. It’s not because I don’t have stories to tell. If anything, I have too many stories I want to tell. The Louis Vuitton experience, the Dior experience, the Hermès experience, Mövenpick, Hong Kong Disneyland, and all our other travels and little life adventures are still waiting for me to sit down and write about them properly. The stories are there. The words are there. But lately, I feel like I only have enough energy for a little bit of me-time during the first few hours of my day. After that, it’s VA work, Oslob New Village work, emails, staff concerns, payroll, guests, bookings, and all the other things that come with adulting and running a life that is full, beautiful, tiring, and sometimes very overwhelming.
The funny thing is, I still write in my head all the time. I think of captions while I’m cleaning our bedroom. I think of blog post ideas while helping make the bed. I think of reflections while washing dishes when our helper is on day off, or while dishing out our plates when we eat inside our room. Sometimes I’m sweeping the bedroom floor because it’s already very dirty and I know I’ll ask our helper to do a more general cleaning later, but in the meantime, I still end up doing the immediate cleaning myself. Sometimes I’m in the CLOFFICE, supposedly working, but part of my brain is already arranging words for a story I want to tell. So it’s not really the lack of stories. It’s the lack of energy after carrying so many other things.
One of the stories I’ve been wanting to blog about is my Louis Vuitton experience at Nustar. I’ve already posted about it on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, YouTube, and TikTok, but I haven’t written the blog version yet. And maybe it’s because the blog version needed more space. A social media post can capture the moment, but the blog version has to tell the deeper truth behind the moment. And the deeper truth is this: I thought this was a Louis Vuitton story, but the more I think about it, the more I realize it wasn’t really about Louis Vuitton.
A Husband Who Would Rather Buy Land Than Handbags
If you know Hanz, you’ll understand why this meant so much to me. My husband is very frugal and practical. He is the kind of man who would rather buy a piece of land than buy a piece of bag. He thinks about businesses, expansion, investments, long-term security, and how money can grow. That is very Hanz. And to be fair, that part of him has helped us build a lot of things together. He is responsible, hardworking, and very future-oriented. So this is not a story about a husband who never cared. I don’t want it to come across that way, because that is not true. He cares deeply, but his natural way of caring is usually practical. It’s building. It’s providing. It’s thinking ahead. It’s not usually walking into a luxury store and buying a handbag.
On the other hand, I have loved Louis Vuitton for years. I would talk about it, watch videos, admire bags, and mention it to Hanz from time to time. Okay, maybe not just from time to time. Maybe I mentioned it many times. Hihihi. But it wasn’t like I was demanding it or forcing him to buy me one. It was more like one of those things that made me smile. One of those little dreams that stayed in the corner of my heart.
My First Louis Vuitton Memory
In fact, this wasn’t even my first Louis Vuitton experience.
Back in 2023, when Louis Vuitton still had their smaller boutique at Nustar, we visited their Salon de Luxe shop. I still remember how special that felt. It wasn’t about buying anything. It was the experience itself. The attention to detail. The service. The feeling of being welcomed into a world that I had only admired from afar for years.
I remember coming home from that experience feeling happy and inspired. Not because I suddenly needed a Louis Vuitton bag, but because I genuinely enjoyed the experience. Looking back now, I think that event made me appreciate the brand even more. It became one of those little memories that stayed with me long after it was over.
And over time, because nothing really happened despite all those years of mentioning how much I loved LV, I stopped expecting. Not in a bitter way, but more like a self-protective way. I didn’t want to keep hoping and then feel disappointed. I told myself that if I really wanted one, I could just buy one myself, like I always do.
The Breadwinner Habit
And that is the part that is hard to explain unless you know my history. I’ve spent decades being the breadwinner, the responsible one, the productive one, the financially strong one, the one who figures things out, the one who can buy things for herself if she really wants them. I have been so used to being the person other people depend on that I think I forgot what it feels like to be the one being taken care of. For so long, if I wanted something, I worked for it. If something needed to be paid, I paid for it. If something needed to be solved, I solved it. If something needed to be carried, I carried it. After a while, that becomes your default setting. You don’t even realize how heavy it is because you’ve been carrying it for so long.
The Day It Finally Happened
So when we were inside Louis Vuitton at Nustar, I honestly thought we were just looking. I knew I loved LV. Hanz knew I loved LV. But because I also knew Hanz, I wasn’t really expecting that he would actually buy me one. Of course, a part of me was hoping. I’m human. I’m a woman who loves beautiful things. But another part of me had already trained itself not to expect too much because I didn’t want to feel heartbroken over something that maybe wasn’t practical to him.
If you’re curious what the experience looked like, I actually filmed parts of our visit that day. This could have been a lot longer had the first CA not reprimanded me not to take pictures and videos. At the time, I thought I was simply documenting a fun luxury experience. Looking back now, I realize I was unknowingly capturing a moment that would become much more meaningful to me than I expected.
Then suddenly, he was serious. Suddenly, we were choosing. Suddenly, it was really happening. And when he bought me the Louis Vuitton bag, I cried.
Why I Really Cried
I did not cry because it was Louis Vuitton. I did not cry because it was expensive. I did not cry because I finally had a bag. I cried because Hanz bought it for me. That distinction matters. If I had bought it for myself, I would have been happy, yes. Maybe proud. Maybe excited. But I don’t think I would have cried the way I did. What made me cry was that this very practical, very frugal man, who would normally rather buy land than a handbag, stepped outside his usual way of thinking and chose something simply because he knew it would make me happy.
For years, I thought I wanted him to buy me a Louis Vuitton. But in that moment, I realized what I really wanted was to feel seen. I wanted to feel remembered. I wanted to feel like someone had been paying attention all along.
What Tiffany Taught Me
As I was reflecting on why the experience affected me so much, I realized that this wasn’t the first time luxury had surprised me with a deeper lesson.
A few weeks earlier, I had written about my very first Breakfast at Tiffany’s experience. At the time, I thought the story was about Tiffany & Co. But when I sat down to write about it, I realized it wasn’t really about Tiffany either.
It was about safety… about finally reaching a season in life where I didn’t feel like I had to fight for every good thing that came my way.
This Louis Vuitton experience feels similar because on the surface, it looks like a story about a handbag. But underneath it, I think it’s another story about healing…. Another story about receiving…. Another story about discovering that some of the things I thought I wanted were actually standing in for something much deeper. Because gifts, for me, have never been just about the item. I know some people don’t understand that. Maybe for them a gift is just a thing.
But for me, especially after years of carrying responsibilities and being the one who gives and provides, a gift can feel like someone saying, “I know this matters to you. I remember. I want to make you happy.” And I think that is why the tears came from somewhere so deep.
Learning How to Receive
It also made me think about why I’ve been so tired lately. Maybe burnout is not always losing interest in the things you love. Maybe burnout is having so many responsibilities that by the time you finally have space for the things you love, your energy is already gone. I still love writing. I still love blogging. I still love telling stories. I still love sharing little pieces of my life. But maybe I’ve simply been carrying too much for too long. Maybe the reason the Louis Vuitton moment affected me so much is because, for once, I wasn’t the one making the dream happen for myself. Someone else made it happen for me.
Thank You, Dada
And that is why I want to thank my husband. Thank you, Dada, not just for the Louis Vuitton bag, although yes, I really, really love it. Thank you for paying attention. Thank you for remembering something I had mentioned for years and probably kept mentioning every chance I got. Thank you for making space for one of my love languages even though gifts don’t come naturally to you. Thank you for helping make another dream come true. This is not the first dream you have helped make possible for me, and knowing our life together, I have a feeling it won’t be the last.
The Real Gift
I came home that day with a Louis Vuitton bag. (I still haven’t shared the unboxing video, by the way. I rarely do unboxing videos for luxury items because I sometimes worry they might come across as tacky or tone-deaf, especially these days when life is hard for so many people. So for now, I won’t even tell you yet which bag it is. 😊) but I also came home with something that can’t really be placed inside a shopping bag. I came home with the feeling that maybe I don’t have to carry everything by myself all the time. Maybe I can be strong and still receive. Maybe I can be capable and still be taken care of. Maybe I can be the woman who works hard, builds businesses, manages responsibilities, loves her family, and still allows herself to be soft. Maybe this is the season where I learn that I don’t have to earn every good thing through exhaustion.
My Takeaway
So yes, this started as a Louis Vuitton story. But maybe it’s really a story about marriage, love languages, breadwinning, burnout, healing, and learning how to receive at 48 years old.
A few weeks ago, Tiffany taught me that what I really wanted was safety. This time, Louis Vuitton taught me that what I really wanted was to feel seen. And perhaps both experiences are teaching me the same thing: that after decades of being the one who carried everyone else, it’s okay to let myself be cared for too. Sometimes love arrives as a handbag. But what you’re really receiving is the reminder that you are seen, remembered, valued, and deeply loved.
You may also enjoy:
MomTraNeur 