True love: ‘Where can we find true love?’

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Saturday, February 12, 2011

THIS month of February, some of us would prefer to hear stories that can tickle our cravings for love as this month is often associated with that four-letter-word.

Each of us may have our own share of love stories to tell – be it good or bad. But it’s how we view that experiences in life that gives us a deeper meaning of what love is.

Most people consider love as a spice to a couple’s successful marriage or relationship. That is indeed, true since it is love that makes them feel secured and happy.

But where can we find true love?

There are many ways that a person can experience true love – it may be love for another person, love for his or her work, vocation or profession, or love for his/her material possession.

As in the case of my mother-in-law, true love is what she feels for someone whom she wants to spend the rest of her life with.

Mamang Nitz has a colorful love story that would surely send giggles to love fanatics. Many times I share her story to my participants during trainings on feature writing that I regularly conduct, as one example of a feature story with human interest. And most often, those who hear it would say how majestic and predictable love is.

While she was 14 years old, Mamang Nitz met a 17-year-old working student whom she had an “MU” (mutual understanding). Their relationship went on smoothly until another guy courted her who was so persistent that every time he visits her, he would bring gifts to all the members of her family, even some of the neighbors.

Jun, the working student, felt then he couldn’t compete with his rival, financially, as he was just a struggling guy who can’t even afford to send himself to school. So he decided to let her go, focused on his studies and eventually graduated college after six years. He then went to Manila, tried his luck and became successful.

Expectedly, Mamang Nitz married the other guy and had four kids. But their marriage was not all beds of roses since the guy fell in love with another woman, her own best friend who is also a public school teacher like her.

The guy and her best friend later eloped, leaving Mamang Nitz in great pain. But a few years after, the guy came back and they started all over again. But sometimes, the guy would sneak out of the house to visit his other woman, who lives in Butuan City.

Few years after, the guy – who was my father-in-law – died of asthma and heart attack. His demise again left Mamang Nitz in great pain. But as she said, life has to go on.

But maybe, it was God’s plan.

A year after the guy died, she crossed path with Jun after he inked a deal with her distant relative for a property in Cagayan de Oro. And that started it all.

After 40 years, they met again. And constant meetings between them had rekindled the love that they once shared.

Mamang Nitz is again very much “single.” And so is Jun after his wife died of an illness. They had no children.

Being single and both in love, Mamang Nitz and Jun got married on September 24, 2007 in civil rights.

Mamang Nitz, now 65 years old, and Dad Jun (the name he wants us to call him), is 68. They are booth oozing with love. And as we see it, it is love that keeps them together.

It is, indeed, true love that binds them together through all these years. And it is love that keeps them going strong, until eternity...