Today being the day for love and romance, I have to say that I know at least 10 couples who have been together, lovingly and happily, since they got married and I am proud of them.

But if we have to start somewhere, I’d have to say that it’s thanks to the wives, the Mrs. side of the equation, they who are patient, soft-spoken and not the type to pick a fight or raise a voice, who have won the day after a row, an argument or disagreement. If there’s a secret to their strategy, it’s that they know when to pull their punches. As far as experience speaks – not necessarily my own -- marital spats begin and end with loud words meant to hurt eardrums and heartstrings, and it’s a forgiving wife, even when she’s to blame, who saves the day.

Not every husband is lovable and not every wife finds it easy to excuse or forgive the guy, but among those couples I call my friends, I’m almost certain it’s the husband who’s the lucky one for having such a forgiving better half.

Better half: how apt! (Only a happily married man is capable of making a joke by calling himself the bitter half.)

In the age of quickie divorces elsewhere in the world – the Philippines and the Vatican being the only two remaining exceptions – it is comforting to remember these words of Pope Benedict XVI (a German): “Each one’s suffering is different.” Some quarters believed that if he could express his thoughts in that way, then perhaps the Vatican would call an ecumenical council to discuss the pros and cons in a new age. His successor, Pope Francis, dashed those hopes.

Under an American Pope Leo XIV, what are the chances? “No way!” said an American, born and baptized Catholic.

But, hey, it’s Valentine’s Day today! Time to talk about love forever and everlasting. So I shall leave you, dear reader, with these words by Colleen Hoover: “It isn’t really love at first sight until you’ve been with the person long enough for it to become love at first sight.”

Shakespeare saw it differently: “Whoever loved, that loved not at first sight?”