Diamond weddings in Zamora with a special shine
That wedding, the first officiated in the parish of Cristo Rey and whose only honeymoon consisted of enjoying Sunday as a couple before returning to work on Monday, was the origin of nine children, twenty grandchildren and three great-grandchildren who are now spread across Asturias, Valencia, Valladolid and Zamora.
The secret of six decades of marriage keeping the flame of love burning is to have "a lot of patience, a lot of respect and knowing how to share", María Martínez confessed to Efe, while her husband added that it is also necessary to "give a lot love every day."
When they celebrated their 50th anniversary of marriage, they celebrated in style, with a Mediterranean cruise included, but when they turned 60, after months of restrictions due to the pandemic and without the possibility of hugging their loved ones, they lived it like another day , doing crossword puzzles, plowing or taking care of late chores in the garden they have at home, on the Almaraz de Zamora road.
They avoided the coronavirus thanks to those precautions they took, since one of their daughters was admitted to the hospital twice for COVID-19 and other family members were also infected. Even so, they did not take it well that for more than a year the children, when they went to see them and brought them groceries, did not enter the house and only greeted them behind the window pane.
With the situation somewhat more normalized by vaccination and after having been able to kiss their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren again, Eulalio Gutiérrez and María Martínez have continued with their normal lives. So much so that when they celebrated their 61st anniversary on November 5, they didn't even remember the anniversary and it was one of their daughters who reminded them by phone.
All the children knew the day well because they had been scheduling dates and, although it couldn't be then, they were surprised this Saturday by showing up at home with chocolate and churros to kick off a whole weekend of diamond weddings.
After breakfast, they have been taken to Sanabria, where they have recalled the summers they spent as a family in a caravan next to the beach of Los Enanos del Lago de Sanabria.
The happiness with which the children remember the years of their childhood have tried to return it this weekend with the celebration of a diamond wedding anniversary whose brightness has been delayed by COVID-19, but whose celebration has not been able to prevent.
