From being students in the Philippines to being professionals in Dubai, Overseas Filipino couple Anthony and Vivian Salas share their love story that roots way back from their college days to the present.
PLAYED BY DESTINY
Anthony and Vivian were architecture students at Cebu Institute of Technology way back early 2000s. The couple first met when Anthony was in his fourth year of college while Vivian was in her first year. They were only one year apart in age, but Vivian shifted from engineering course to architecture, thus, she was three years behind.
Vivian said, “I wonder if I took architecture at first, maybe we may have had more time at school together. But if I did, I probably would not have met him.”
The couple met through a common friend but months before that they were already intertwined by fate. Vivian’s roommate had a lot of suitors and Anthony was one of them. Her roommate wanted to play cupid and do a little matchmaking on the two, but Vivian said “no.”
3 months later, it was already August 2001. The couple finally got acquainted.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Anthony shared that when he first saw Vivian, he was already attracted to her. She captured his attention because he looked like his type.
“I was more into the boyish type than the ‘kikay’ ones,” he said. Vivian shared that she really didn’t like Anthony at first because he looked a bit ragged.
“Raggedly handsome,” Anthony added.
Then she added, “but the first thing I noticed about him was his smile.” Eventually, they became close and Anthony started courting her.
Vivian got into a relationship… but it wasn’t with Anthony.
DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER
Vivian had two suitors: one looks kind and the other looks mean. Anthony was the mean-looking one and Vivian said “yes” to the guy who looked nice.
Eventually, she realized that behind the guy’s nice looks was a physically abusive and easily jealous person. This was one of the big reasons why their relationship didn’t last long and eventually broke up. Like a knight-in-shining-armor, Anthony went into the rescue of his “princess” Vivian. Their friendship deepened and bloomed into a romantic relationship.
“You really shouldn’t judge someone based on your first impression of him. When Anthony and I got together, my friends always ask me if I don’t get scared because he looks like a ‘badboy.’ It’s funny because my ex who looked like a nice person was actually the bad one,” she said.
THE RINGTONE
“He found out that I had a crush on him because of a ringtone,” said Vivian.
She said that he was looking for the song Superman (by Five for Fighting) so he could use it as a ringtone. So, she asked her friends if they have a copy of the song and when she found it she immediately used it as her ringtone.
“When I told him I found the song, it was already too late,” she said.
Anthony already had the song as his ringtone.
At present, they still reminisce about that moment whenever they hear this song.
NO COUPLE IS PERFECT
Anthony graduated and Vivian was a working student. Despite that, Anthony would always pick her up after work. They didn’t have enough money, but they were happy together.
Time passed and Anthony became a licensed Architect. Vivian was graduating from college when she found out that she got pregnant with Anthony’s child. When she graduated, she already had “Zarc,” their first baby boy.
This was the start of the bigger hurdles that the couple had to go through.
Zarc had some complications when he was born. There was excess water underneath his skin that had to be operated. Having a baby was not a problem to them, it was the hospital bills that came with it.
“That was one of the greatest trials we had in our relationship. We did not have enough money to pay for the hospital bills of our baby, so we had to work hard and do some side lines,” Vivian said.
The couple even got to the point where they thought “maybe this child is not for us.” Yet, they didn’t give up because they believed “the child fought for his life, so why shouldn’t we?”
Eventually, Anthony got a contract offer and was able to provide for it. They stayed with Anthony’s mother because he was worried about the safety and wellbeing of his family.
Anthony and Vivian got married in 2006. 5 years later, Anthony ventured a career abroad.
Anthony had an opportunity to work in the United Arab Emirates and he pursued it. Vivian and their child stayed with Anthony’s mother.
DETACHING FROM THE IN-LAWS
Staying with the in-laws was not easy for the couple. There were challenges that they faced along the way which eventually led them to moving out from Anthony’s mother’s place.
“Based on our experience, it’s not really good for a couple to stay with in-laws. As the bible says, ‘leave and cleave.'”
The couple realized a lot of things when they moved out.
“When you have a family, it’s very important to make your partner and your children the top priority,” they said.
“It’s not selfish to think about yourself and your own family before you think about others,” they added.
22 YEARS AND COUNTING
The couple that started off as college friends in 2001 became boyfriend-girlfriend for 5 years before they decided to get married in 2006. Now professionals in the UAE, the couple was also able to bring their family to Dubai.
Anthony and Vivian have been together for 22 years as of this writing. What’s more interesting is that they are actually working in the same company. Their co-workers often ask them jokingly if they never got sick of each other’s faces because of how often they are together.
“We never get sick of each other because we enjoy our own company. We have a lot to talk about especially since we have the same line of work, we can share each other’s ideas,” they said.
When asked about how they made their relationship strong for two decades and more, the couple shared: “Just keep the love burning. It is also important to keep the trust and friendship with each other and make God the center of your relationship.”
