After what seemed like days of flying and zero sleep, I arrived in lima at 11pm at night ready for death.
Luckily, I was rescued by one of my favourite couples in the world, Roy & Sue.
Roy and Sue are the parents of my 2 very close girlfriends and, before I even understood their love story, I already knew that in life this was the kind of role model partnership that I wanted for myself.
I remember one of the first times I stayed over at my girlfriends house (over 12 years ago now – yikes!)
T, hearing laughter and giggling coming from the bathroom – ‘What’s that?’
Jules, sheepishly – ‘That’s my mum and dad having a shower … they’re like this all the time.’
A brief history of the love affair.
– In the very early 70’s, Sue a young 22 year-old single Latin American lady migrates to Australia, courageously taking this journey from Lima to Sydney with only $2000 in her pocket, no family support, and speaking very little english. Within 15 days of this amazing adventure, and amidst the culture shock, Sue meets Roy.
– Roy, after a stint in the british army, at 24 migrates to Australia and is working as an electrician, when one day in his early 30’s an Argentinean co-worker asks if he would like to follow him to a salsa club. In this salsa club, at 32 and not looking for marriage, Roy sees a 22 year-old beautiful Sue and everything changes.
Roy in a British accent – ‘I looked at her and said to my mate “that’s the girl I’m going to marry”… The feeling was uncanny.’
Love story or not, they’ll be the first to tell you that marriage is not easy – you both have to work at it equally, with the most important ingredient being communication and to have common interest to avoid growing apart, as they have seen many couples do.
With 38 years of marriage under their belt (and counting!), their lives are richer than most, and as cheesy as it sounds, it’s because they have each other – everything else was a bonus built on that foundation.
Roy, 71 – ‘ The best thing I ever did was marry Sue.’
And for Sue (61), the best decision she ever made was to migrate to Australia which in turn lead her to Roy. I can only hope, and pray to all the gods and aliens, that one day someone could give me even half of this compliment.
Now in November 2010, hundreds of miles away from home in Lima, this amazing couple greets me warmly, looking fit and fabulous in their retirement, and most importantly, very very happy.
Tiara in Transit 