Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/941670
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2018 News 4 - CLAIRE met her husband Stephen Apap ten years ago when she was just 16 years old. Meeting through 'Hi5', a popular social media plat- form in 2007, Claire first met Stephen in front of the Msida police station, assuming it was a safe place to meet an in- ternet stranger who was four years older than her. "I had a diary at the time, and on that day I wrote "I hope this is the one" even though, being 16, I didn't have any interest in being in a long term relationship." After about a year, Stephen planned a whole day in Lon- don for Claire's birthday, but little did she know he was about to propose. Unfortu- nately, it didn't go entirely as planned. Claire said that they had to have her sevenyearold sister with them all day, who kept asking Stephen if he was going to do it. Although his plan was to propose to her on the London Eye, he ended up popping the question in the queue to go up. "He couldn't wait any long- er, so he started singing one of my favourite songs, chang- ing the lyrics to turn it into a proposal. Midproposal a homeless man came asking for a pound, which Stephen quickly gave! However, the experience didn't ruin the moment, but rather made for a funny story." Unlike most people, the couple celebrates three dif- ferent anniversaries every year. "People sometimes find it funny. We celebrate the day we started dating, the date of our civil wedding and the date of our Catholic wedding." On those days, the two have dinner, and sometimes write each other heartfelt poems. Even though they've been together for ten years, the two still like to show each other they care. The two plan to celebrate Valentine's Day by having dinner together and opening a nice bottle of wine. MR and Mrs Gauci will cel- ebrate their 65th wedding anniversary next August. The two grew up in the same hometown, but had never met until Cettina was 19 and Victor was 20 years old. Cettina described how she used to go to Church every evening, and al- though she never noticed, her future husband used to see her on her way to Mass everyday. One time, he waited for her with a friend and approached her when she was leaving Mass. Victor was quite shy and after a month or two, his friend told Cettina that Victor liked her. Cettina told him she'd think about it and immediately ran to her mother for help. "Victor was still starting out at work but my mother told me that it didn't mat- ter. I remember her tell- ing me, 'It's not the money that matters but that he's a good man'," Cettina said. "So, I accepted to go out with him. After that, we used to meet every even- ing. He was quiet and we got along very well. We never had any trouble, just some small fights and a bit of normal jealousy. Even up until today, we still nev- er had any trouble." The pair agreed to get married three years later. They talked about the idea, bought each other rings and had a small party with family and a priest. The two got married a year lat- er, and had their first child after just nine months. "On the whole, raising our children were the best moments of our lives. Now we have five children, eight grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren." Their children plan an anniversary party for the couple every year, sur- rounding the couple by family members and friends. However, Cet- tina admitted that the two aren't very romantic. "We're not very romantic, we don't give each other gifts on Valentine's and on our anniversary. However, every night before we go to bed we hold each other's hand." How old are you both? 28 (Geo) & 25 (Debbie) How did you first meet? On Tinder. What drew you to each other? Besides that we both have been through tough relationships I con- sider ours as an ideal one. We have music which is also the main chain of our relationship. How did you end up together? After meeting very informally at a fast food venue till around 2am. Are you both romantic? Yes, I consider us both as very ro- mantic especially leaving notes to each other with some goodies when arriving at home or having a nice dinner in a posh venue. How did you propose? Proposed on the Virtu Ferries. We will be getting married on Friday 12 July 2019. Are you still romantic? Yes very romantic. How are you spending Valentine's Day? As we are both singers we will be both working together at a Valen- tine's Dinner. 81YEAROLD Juliette Pace has been happily married to 84-year-old Edwin Pace since 1968. "I worked in a bank and he worked in England, and he came for this brother's wed- ding – his brother also worked at the bank. He asked him about me and asked me for a date there and then," she said, ex- plaining that the meet- ing was a mixture of chance and confidence. "I thought he was very forward," she said, describ- ing how the couple hit it off at a party on her mother's roof. "We got very close at the party, as we were speaking all the while." But Mr Pace was only here for 12 days, as he had to return home. "So we continued to write to each other for the next six months, after which his father found him a very good job in Malta." Very shortly after, Mr Pace got on his knees in a garden in Valletta. "My husband is very ro- mantic, and the proposal was very romantic, and entirely unexpected," "We made arrangements to get married and have been happy ever since." Mrs Pace admits that it took a lot of patience to get through nearly 60 years of marriage. "We've had our ups and downs and we do fight a lot," she said, but also added that they've made a lot of happy memories together. "We used to travel a lot together when we were younger. Nowadays, we normally just sit next to each other," she said. However, Mrs Pace insists that this is due to old age and not a matter of two growing apart. Their relation- ship has changed, but not because their affec- tion for each other has dwindled. "My father used to say that I change my boy- friends like other people change their socks. But we left an impact on each other, and stuck together." Victor and Cettina Gauci Claire & Stephen Apap Edwin and Juliette Pace Geo Debono and Debbie Maria Pace and Tia Reljic contributed to this feature