Love at first sight, love for a lifetime… Where does love end and co-habitation kick in? And does a time check only make feelings grow stronger? We asked Parsla and Varis who refer to each other as their success story of 43 years.

PARSLA AND LOVE

Love is…

a natural phenomenon. A rare phenomenon of nature.

Love is not…

A daily phenomenon.

Qualities that could make someone fall for me…

Wittiness. A tendency to feed someone.

Stupid misbelief about love...

You can see the stupidity in romantic movies. Everything has the right solution, a happy ending and predictability. Life can also have a happy ending, but not predictability. In life everything happens completely differently to what was predicted. And it`s not always beautiful.

Usually I call my partner...

An old fool. Husband and papa.

I haven`t told him yet, but maybe should...

Old fools can also be dear.

Things I value the most about my partner...

Sometimes he does things just to make me happy. Without asking.

He taught me...

To be more demanding towards myself. He was well taught by his mother and told me that a pillow must always be put on the bed correctly, the floors must be clean. Now he`s a bit lazier though. Papa taught me that the job has to be done. And he also taught me how to cook soup – did not just give some stupid advice, but actually taught me!

The story of “How I met your father”...

We have been together for 43 years. We met in the mountains – we were travelling by train to a mountain hike. I did actually notice him before but did not show any interest, but then papa wrote me a letter. We met for our first date in Arkadija Park.

The moment I realised: “He`s the one!”...

I think it was after the second date. He borrowed a motorcycle, it was spring. We rode to the sea. Almost everyone from our group of friends was married, but we were 23 years old already.

Your happiest moments...

Child birth. Travelling together. Those were happy days when we got away from the countryside and travelled across Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania.

When he is gone, the things I miss the most...

The sense of safety. Support. When you run around you don`t miss anything in particular, but after a while... especially last summer, when papa was in hospital.

One love for a lifetime...

It turns to a sweet, sometimes annoying co-habitation. It is still love, but it`s not as intense.

VARIS AND LOVE

Love is...

It is so personal that I don`t speak with anyone about that.

Love is not...

That is also a very personal question. You should only talk about this with the person to whom it applies.

It is easy to fall for me, because...

I am a wonderful man. You know, there are not enough letters and words to describe how good I am.

But I can fall for someone if...

I feel comforted by my partner. As long as I get praised, applauded and put in the spotlight.

One relationship tip for everyone...

Too bad, everyone learns from their own mistakes, not advice from others.

Thing I value most about my partner...

That she tolerates me. Seriously.

My partner has changed in me...

She has made me less of an egoist.

Your happiest moments are...

This list would be very long. Everything that has happened in our personal lives – children, their lucky moments, our grandchildren.

When you`re not around each other, you miss the most...

Everything we do together daily. I have many best friends, but my lady is a very special best friend.

One love for a lifetime...

That is a question of luck. Yes, great luck. God`s will, you may say. My lady is my success story. And we`ve spent the last six months discussing some big questions, values and meaningful things. What happened, why it happened... after everything that we`ve gone through, you get a lesson. And you must get to the bottom of it, especially at our age. And now we must look at things from a different point of view. If relationships previously seemed obvious and every day was just another rush-filled run, then now, when you`re getting closer to the final gates, you have to value everything as a great gift. A very close and personal one.