Love stories need not be filled with drama and tragedy. There are many hidden true-love stories around us – in those who choose to remain together and continue to love one another for a lifetime, battling all the mundane realities thrown at them by life. Sarah Carabott speaks to Mary and Emanuel Spiteri who share the secrets of their extraordinary, ordinary love.

Love, forgiveness… and making sure you kiss your partner every night are the three ingredients of the recipe to a long-lasting relationship, according to Mary and Emanuel Spiteri.

“Kiss each other even if you spent the day arguing. A kiss will do away with all the hard feelings,” Mary says when asked for the single advice she would give after 60 years of marriage.

“And when the flame starts flickering bring it back to life by forgiving,” Emanuel added, running his right forefinger and thumb over his left ring finger.

“Oh no! I didn’t put on my ring when we left the room,” he said. His wife, echoing his disappointment and surprise, explains that he never goes outdoors without his wedding ring. Technically we are still indoors – at Villa Messina, where the couple moved into in December.

“Do you know why I forgot it?” Emanuel asks Mary, a glint in his eyes. “I was hoping to find a woman,” he adds, laughing as Mary rolls her eyes, half smiling.

Before she can protest, he quickly adds: “Eq! Don’t forget what we just said: forgiveness is key”. His comment cracks her up.

Emanuel’s sense of humour has gotten him through three heart interventions and all the hardships 84 years bring with them.

“Life is all ups and downs, and one day we are all going to take a no-return ticket… in the meantime, we should keep our spirits high.”

On January 1, the Spiteris marked 60 years of marriage, although the pandemic restrictions ruined all their planned celebrations.

They first laid eyes on each other at Buskett on l-Imnarja

But “everything passes”, as Emanuel likes to say, and the man is now looking forward to the next anniversary milestone.

“When we made it through 50 years of marriage, I prayed hard to reach the 60th anniversary. Now that we managed to make it to 60, I will pray even harder. I might be asking too much though, because I also never expected to live beyond 80, and here I am, 16 years short of 100,” Emanuel says.

When he was 46, Emanuel underwent a heart bypass, with Mary fearing she will be widowed at just 44. Along the years he underwent two other interventions, having four stents put in his heart – “one in each corner”, he jokes.

Despite his jovial and taunting nature, Emanuel insists he would not have done it hadn’t it been for the love of his life – Mary.

She not only “brought him to his senses and set him on the right path” when they started dating, but also took care of her in-laws when they married while caring for their two children – Lorraine and Philip. For Mary, holding their children for the first time were the happiest moments of their lives.

Their wedding day is also among their happiest. It was the first day of 1962 – a clear, sunny and beautiful day.

“Mary was beautiful back then,” Emanuel quips, quickly adding: “she was… and still is… beautiful”.

Their first meeting is as romantic as it could get back then. With Mary being from Floriana and brought up in Birkirkara, and Emanuel from Żebbuġ, they first laid eyes on each other at Buskett on l-Imnarja.

Mary recalls she was sitting on a fence with some other women when she saw Emanuel approaching with a friend. Since Emanuel knew her father, they chatted for a while before he headed to Mount Carmel Hospital, where he worked as a nurse, for his noon shift.

The two met again when Emanuel and his friends rented a car, and, spotting some young women in another vehicle, decided to follow them to Armier. Mary happened to be on that same vehicle.

When the spirited Emanuel spotted Mary for the third time walking along a road in Fleur-de-Lys, he knew they were “meant for each other”.

“Fate brought us together three times – by then I knew she was the one, so I bid farewell to my friends.”

Most of their dates consisted of long walks close to Mary’s house, chaperoned by one of their many siblings.

What did Emanuel like in Mary?

“It’s easier to tell you what I don’t like in her! God help me had I not met her. She brought me to my senses.

“I have been lucky in many things in life, but most especially I’ve been lucky to have met her. I cannot complain about anything.”

Have they ever fought?

“Everyone fights,” Emanuel exclaims. “We’ve fought several times… in my case, when we argue I just don’t speak to her or look at her,” he says with a smile.

But before he can continue, it is Mary’s time for a comeback: “He always gave in and fell for me in the end.”

So what advice would they give today’s young lovers?

Emanuel is not sure today’s youths are willing to take on any advice, but Mary has some sound words.

“Sacrifice is very important – when you marry it’s no longer about you, but it’s about the two of you,” she says. “You need to keep in mind what the other part in the marriage wants as well, reach a compromise and make sure you care for each other even when you don’t see eye to eye.”