Photos & Stories of Love
by Mayra Ferra from Crossing Lines, Finding Love
Mayra is a photographer who traveled the world to meet, photograph and document stories of couples worldwide as part of her project entitled, Crossing Lines, Finding Love. She shares some of the love stories she gathered from her journey. To learn more about Mayra, see Freedompreneur: Mayra of Crossing Lines, Finding Love.
HUNGARY
Éva & Andor
Hungarians, married for 37 years
Our Story
“In 1957 I met my husband and his family. He had a very big family. A lot of cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. That was new for me, of course, because I had lost all 49 members of my family in the Holocaust. His family lived in Budapest, which was the only place Hungarian Jews could possibly survive, in the Budapest Ghetto.” She then continued with how it feels to fall in love at an older age. “When you fall in love as an older person, it is something unbelievable. You feel very young. You repeat the feelings of being young in your old age. Everything is made with all your soul. You know that every moment is very precious. We know that we are the luckiest persons on earth because of that feeling. It is something extraordinary and wonderful.”
Advice
“Young couples need to learn to have patience with each other. They can’t give up so easily.”
BELGIUM
Liesbeth & Wim
Flemish, dated 2 years, married 14 years
Our Story
“We met at work in Brussels. I remember the first time I saw her thinking, ‘Wow! What a nice girl. What a pity I already have a girlfriend.’ We started talking and went out to eat with a group of colleagues. She told me she had seen the Star Wars movie. I was so impressed.” At which point Liesbeth said, “and I hated the movie.” *laughs out loud* Wim continues, “Nevertheless, I thought she was very cool.” Liesbeth remembers the first meeting a little different. “I had been working at the company for 1 month and knew I had met everyone except one person. One day, I was on my way to the copier when I see this man. I immediately had to make a u-turn and sit for a minute because I was like ‘oh my god!’ I was blown away. We soon found out that both our parents were from Leuven, and we had gone to the same University at the same time and never met.”
Advice
“Live a little before getting married. Respect and be nice to each other.” “It helps to have some experiences and independence before you marry. This way, you get to know yourself as well. Make sure you feel treated as an equal with your partner.”
ANDORRA
Eilin & Miguel
Dominica + Spaniard, dated 1 year, married 1 year
Our Story
“We both lived in Madrid and worked only a few blocks away from one another but never met. He then moved to Andorra and I continued living in Spain. It wasn’t until my roommate invited me to go to her hometown of Cádiz that we met. My roommate was friends with Miguel since childhood. On one of my holidays, I didn’t know what to do and she invited me to go with her to Cádiz. I ended up going with her. She had told Miguel about me and their whole group of friends! I still feel like we met organically because although she planned it and they all knew, I didn’t. *Smiles* Our dating time was long distance but we had no problem with that because we knew we had great chemistry, and completely trusted each other.”
Advice
“I believe it’s become easier to separate and give up on marriage. It’s important to remember to have patience and to be tolerant.” “Definitely tolerance. Remember that no relationship is perfect.”
USA
Rima & David
Americans, married 26 years
Our Story
“My grandfather was married four times and I had a cousin from his second marriage whom I’d never met until I was like 32. When we met, he was engaged and it turns out her fiancée was best friends with Rima. She introduced us.” Rima added, “after our third date we decided that we were going to get married. 46 days after our first meet up we were engaged.” What are some qualities you admire about her? “That she puts up with me. Her honesty, straight forwardness, she’s kind hearted, her intuition, her creativeness.”
Advice
“When you’re first married, I don’t think you realize the work part of the relationship. You realize the love, the surprises, the sexiness of it all. That’s all fun and great except that if you’re really in something for the long haul, that changes a lot. Maybe it still stays good and that’s ok but it’s not what can sustain relationship. What sustains a relationship is you have to come back to the drawing board all the time, talk about it, and work at it.”