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Sunday, February 15, 2009

The Happiest Couple in the World








Miguel and Maria

Miguel and Maria are our neighbours. He is a giant of a man, and Maria is as tiny as a fairy. She once had hair so long that it draped almost to the ground. As a result of living side by side with them, my family and I are all the more blessed. We may try to carefully pick the people alongside whom we live and interact on a daily basis, but sometimes it doesn’t quite work out. Of our four closest neighbours three range from good to very excellent. It’s best I make no comment regarding the fourth.

We have had the good fortune to observe, without being deliberate or intrusive a match apparently made in heaven between Miguel and Maria, for these two wonderful people personify the dream that we all have at the beginning of our marriages, that of having a special someone to spend the rest of our lives with; someone to grow old with in a life marked by peace, love and harmony.

I’m sure you have your own candidates to wear the title that I have given this piece. In our world of serial marriages or no-marriages, it’s important to look for examples of how it’s supposed to be. That is why I want to tell the story of this lovely couple because it is a good news story, one to lift our spirits, and it celebrates Saint Valentine’s Day so well.

Miguel and Maria have been married for 41 years, having tied the knot in 1968. Their story began in a time when Spain was a whole world apart from what it has become in these modern times.

Miguel was born in 1945 in a pueblo called Benelup Casas Vieja, located inland in the general vicinity of Cadiz on the South Coast of Spain. These were the days during the dictatorship and times were very hard indeed. Miguel remembers mostly the ever-present hunger and fear. It was hard to know which was worse. Those were the days where if you let slip the wrong word they would come for you and you were taken away and never heard from again. It was also a time when old scores were settled even though a person might have been entirely loyal to the government.

Sometimes the government agents didn’t even bother to take those chosen away, as in the time the soldiers came to his village and lined up a group of men who were suspected of being Communists. They were herded into a clearing and summarily shot to death, then set ablaze with petrol poured over their bodies.

Living conditions were not unlike those in Northern Africa. Houses were built in the round from clay and roofed with thatched grass. Naturally, all industry was agriculture based, but in spite of growing food the distribution was strictly controlled and that often led to the very people who grew the food being denied sufficient to feed their own families.

1960 was to be a turning point for both Miguel and Maria. That was the year that they met in the town of Manises, Valencia. Fate had brought Maria from Andalucia, and Miguel from Cadiz, and they have hardly been apart ever since. Somehow, they manage to share in most activities of every day and maintain a relationship that is evidently first and foremost, friends and soul mates.

Saint Valentine, the Patron Saint of all lovers, must surely have had in mind these two lovely people as examples for young folk to follow. They are proof that it is possible to make a success of marriage, and that the fairy tale of "happy ever after" can be true.



It is important to keep uppermost in one’s mind the fact that nothing comes easy, and if it’s something of great worth, it will require tenacity, determination to make it work, and the realization that life together is about sometimes giving and sometimes getting.

One more thing: we must first accept the fact that our family deserve our utmost respect. Seems like a simple enough statement, but how many of us accept that as fact? Respect, and loyalty among the family is the cement that bonds us together. Add genuine love to that and a promise not to provoke or hit, and all the elements will be in place for a long life together.


Happy St. Valentine’s Day, Everyone!

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael