The two once-young lovers who married in May last year after 40 years of being apart said yesterday that everyday since then has been "Valentine's Day" for them.

Thelma, 69, and Miguel "Mike" Sumaria, 74, of Lizares Extension, Bacolod City, said they have no special plans for today because they don't need a candlelight dinner and the trappings of Valentine's Day to remind them that love is in the air.

In 1958 Thelma Villa, 21, was a college student and Miguel "Mike" Sumaria, 26, who was working for a surveying firm, met and fell and love. But Mike moved to Manila and their seven-year love affair was mostly through love letters sent back and forth.

Soon they lost touch with each other and Thelma, who became a midwife, went on to work in Libya and in the United States. Mike worked for a sugar mill in Tarlac and then retired in his hometown in New Lucena, Iloilo, where he became a barangay captain and later a councilor.

They both never married.

Thelma moved back to Bacolod from the United States two years ago, and it was only in January last year that she met someone who turned out to be a relative of Mike at a wake.

Soon Mike was calling her up on the phone, in April he proposed and on May 21, they were married at the Sacred Heart Seminary Chapel in Bacolod City.

Thelma, who has been an active parishioner, now has a companion every day when she attends mass at the Lupit Church in Bacolod City. Fellow devout parishioners say the newlyweds are often seen holding hands.

Thelma said that before she met Mike again, she was often ill - she has diabetes, and suffers from high blood pressure and ischemia.

Ischemia is a situation in which the blood flow inside a coronary artery is restricted by a partial or complete blockage. As a result, the heart cannot get enough oxygen-rich blood.

When one is a spinster, it is hard to be sick because one's relatives are busy with their own families, she said.

I often ended up in the hospital, she said.

But it seems that Mike and love have cured her ailments, she said, because since they got married "she has not" been hospitalized.

Mike, who suffers from hyper acidity, also seems to be much better because Thelma keeps a close watch on his diet and does not let him drink coffee and softdrinks.

They giggle a lot because Mike likes to tease her. Sometimes we are already in bed and he is still teasing, she said.

We fight over little petty things sometimes but do not stay mad at each other for long. When I cry Mike hugs me and we make up, Thelma said.

But for the most part, marriage for them has been finally having someone to constantly be with and talk to. Thelma and Mike's lives have indeed been spiced up by a love that survived 40 Valentine's Days apart.*CPG

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