They never do anything special on Valentine’s Day. “Why is that necessary?” Gerda Houkes wonders. She and her husband have already experienced sixty editions. The secret to a good and long marriage? “Just do it,” laughs her husband Tek. Instead of a bunch of red roses, he bought new hyacinths yesterday for the coffee table.
“Valentine’s Day is also more something to put friends in the spotlight, isn’t it?” asks Tek. He and his Gerda are no more or less romantic about it today. On November 23, 1962, the two got married and they are still together to this day. “There have been times when I wanted to stick her behind the wallpaper, but half an hour later it was always good again.”
Being a good addition to each other, that’s the trick, according to Gerda: “What he doesn’t know, I know and vice versa.” For example, the two have a schedule for the chores: one vacuums, the other cooks. Doing fun things now and then also helps: “When the weather warms up, we go walking and cycling,” Tek explains their success.
What is Tek and Gerda’s secret? Watch it in this video:
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