They fell in love when they were barely 16. The year was 1988 – a time when phones had cords, not cameras.
“In my time, during your O-Level year, you’d write autographs for your friends and attach photographs taken with traditional film cameras,” 53-year-old Cynthia Tay recalled.
“We didn’t have Wefies then. So my friends and I were looking for someone to take group photographs for us. Three guys we met at Raffles City Shopping Centre volunteered, and took photographs with our camera and their camera,” she reminisced.
The teenagers exchanged addresses so that they could mail the photos to one another. Then, Tay and one of the boys Jesse Peh began exchanging letters, since there was no WhatsApp or email then.
After writing to each other for a year, they met up, and a romance quickly blossomed.
Tay came from a divorced family with an absent father. Peh came from a family with two loving parents – something that attracted her.
“I grew up with many insecurities. Finding love and security had always been my mission,” she told CNA Women.
In 1997, after eight years of dating, the couple got married at the age of 25. Together, they built the family Tay never had.
