Valentine’s Day often spotlights grand gestures. Flowers. Dinners. Surprises wrapped in ribbon.
But for couples who have built lives together over years, even decades, love looks quieter. It shows up in routine. In prayer. In coffee made without being asked. In staying, even when things are hard.
We asked six longtime Cebuano couples to reflect on three simple questions: What does commitment look like on an ordinary day? What do you protect most in your relationship? And how has your definition of love changed over time?
Their answers remind us that the real story of love is written daily.
Gerald and Janice Yuvallos
What does commitment look like on an ordinary day?
Gerald: Commitment is going through the day, communicating how special my wife is to me. Trying to show appreciation for everything she does and giving her the little things that she likes. Commitment is also always telling myself how God has given me the most perfect partner—the one who complements my weaknesses, and the one who amplifies my strengths.
Janice: A morning hug before getting out of bed, an ‘I love you’ and a kiss upon waking up, a good night kiss, and a hug before going to sleep. Making small gestures, like making coffee in the afternoon, or preparing a sandwich to pair with the coffee. Small efforts that say you matter, without needing any special occasion.
For Gerald and Janice, commitment is woven into habit. It is expressed in gratitude and in the rhythm of everyday affection.
What do you protect most in your relationship?
Gerald: Respect. It is the anchor that holds everything together. With respect, everything falls into place perfectly.
Janice: Respect, trust, being each other’s emotional support, and being each other’s safe space. In a relationship, respect is very important; it sets the tone for each other’s personal boundaries. Trusting each other that you will have each other’s back no matter what. Through communication, you hear each other out and are the pillar for each other’s emotional support and safe spaces.
Respect, for them, is not optional. It is structural.
How has your definition of love changed over time?
Gerald: Over time, we have come to realize that love isn’t an emotion that we all believed it to be. We treat it as a living thing that requires nourishment and care. Like a plant, it needs to be nurtured so it stays radiant, healthy, and strong.
Janice: Love, now, is growing old together. Loving the unlovable aspects and still choosing to wake up beside each other every day.
Love, in their marriage, is not just felt. It is tended.
Charlton and Catherine Seniedo
Eighteen years, three children, and a shared business later, love has become both anchor and engine.
What does commitment look like on an ordinary day?
Charlton: Commitment on any ordinary day for me is the collective effort you make to keep work and love in perfect sync.
Catherine: Commitment is your loyalty, consistency, and presence to your partner.
For the Seniedos, commitment is balance. Not choosing work over love, or love over responsibility, but learning how both can coexist.
What do you protect most in your relationship?
Charlton: Protecting that balance is the key to maintaining it. Putting in mind always the “why” behind all the “work”.
Catherine: I will do everything to protect the foundation of our love that we have built over 18 years. Above all, I will cherish and guard the fruits of our love—our 3 children, our home, and our business.
Their relationship is no longer just about two people. It has grown into a shared life that requires constant intention.
How has your definition of love changed over time?
Charlton: I used to see love as an emotional commitment, but now I see it as the ultimate support system. It’s the stability that I need to keep pushing forward.
Catherine: Before, I used to think that love is being happy or comfortable with someone; with Charlton, I learned the deeper meaning of love based on the storms that we have surpassed. Love is facing problems and finding the solutions together, and complementing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Love, they’ve learned, is not the absence of storms. It is surviving them side by side.
April Rama and Lor Torres
Nearly two decades together have shaped a love that is both independent and deeply intertwined.
What does commitment look like on an ordinary day?
April: After 18 years together, commitment to each other comes in the form of being present, whether times are exciting, mundane, boring, or stressful. It’s waking up early in the morning and keeping the dogs away so that she can get a few extra hours of sleep, then letting her wake up to the dogs’ slobbery kisses when the time is right to start the day off right. It’s anticipating each other’s needs—managing schedules, grocery lists, bills, senior care, and doctor and vet visits—knowing her peace of mind contributes to mine, too.
Lor: Commitment is the everyday stuff—checking in, listening (and remembering. I’ve grown forgetful now that I’m older), doing things for each other without keeping score, and being there even when the day is boring or stressful. It’s knowing we’re a team and that we show up for each other no matter what kind of day it is, or no matter what. Period.
For April and Lor, love is logistical and emotional all at once. It is shared calendars and shared comfort.
What do you protect most in your relationship?
April: Nearly two decades of shared history can feel overwhelming. What I protect most are two core truths: we are each other’s safe space, yet we remain autonomous—free to evolve in our own way and on our own time.
Lor: Trust and the sense of safety we have with each other. Being able to be fully myself—tired, emotional, imperfect—and still feel loved is something I don’t take lightly. So in return, I work hard so that she would feel the same way, and she feels loved always.
Their love holds space for growth, not control.
How has your definition of love changed over time?
April: I have fallen in love with every version of my partner as she has changed through the years—the adventurer and party girl, the mature woman, and the one facing illness. The biggest change for me is embracing the realization that love is a conscious, daily decision: choosing to stay, and choosing to remain curious about the same person every day.
Lor: Love used to feel exciting and intense, but now it feels steady and grounding. It’s choosing each other every day, being patient, growing together, and growing old together while still letting each other be who we are.
Love, for them, is both freedom and choice.
Jayk and Sarree Pimentel
What does commitment look like on an ordinary day?
Jayk and Sarree: Commitment daily is communication—simple communication about our day, our experience, and how we feel is important on a daily basis, as it keeps us updated about each other.
For them, consistency in conversation is what keeps the connection alive.
What do you protect most in your relationship?
Jayk and Sarree: We protect our peace and our respect for each other, which is very important in every relationship.
How has your definition of love changed over time?
Jayk and Sarree: Over time, love has become patient, respectful, and unconditional. Love is understanding each other—not only loving their good values, but understanding each other’s flaws.
After all that, this love has matured into something softer, steadier, and more patient.
Emily Liok and Marq Marquez
In a long-distance relationship, love takes on a different rhythm. It relies on intention.
What does commitment look like on an ordinary day?
Emily: Commitment on an ordinary day is creating a safe space for your partner where they can be completely themselves with you.
Marq: Commitment on an ordinary day is still choosing each other even when nothing special is happening. It’s checking in, making time, and showing up.
Distance makes presence more deliberate.
What do you protect most in your relationship?
Emily: What I protect most is our respect for each other. We always choose to be a team. In everything we do, we consider one another.
Marq: I protect our connection and our trust, especially because we’re long-distance. I make sure we stay close even when we’re apart.
How has your definition of love changed over time?
Emily: Love used to be something I tied closely to intensity and emotion. Now, love is peace. It’s peace of mind, knowing you’re understood even when you don’t explain yourself, knowing you’re supported, and safe.
Marq: I’ve learned that love is not only a feeling, but a choice. It’s choosing the same person every day through good days and bad ones, not just when it’s easy.
For Marq and Emily, love has shifted from intensity to stability.
Eddie and Aissa dela Cruz
In their senior years, love looks like faith, routine, and togetherness.
What does commitment look like on an ordinary day?
Eddie and Aissa: Keeping the heart and hearth warm, and this means preparing and cooking meals at home, as well as exerting effort to do things together. Both of us are retired, so togetherness is a gift. We start the day by praying the rosary, and we try not to miss mass on Sundays, online or in person.
What do you protect most in your relationship?
Eddie and Aissa: Faithfulness and trust in each other are the factors we protect most in our marriage.
How has your definition of love changed over time?
Eddie and Aissa: Life comes in stages. Love evolves over the years—from the giddiness of young romantic love, intense emotion that over the years will mellow into the blessing of togetherness and companionship. Focus is more on kindness and compassion.
Aissa: And in our senior years, health management becomes a priority. I am blessed to be energetic, so I find myself doing the caring more than my husband.
For these two, love has softened into companionship, care, and quiet devotion.
The Quiet Through Line
Across generations, lifestyles, and seasons of life, one theme repeats: love is a choice made daily.
It is respect. It is communication. It is balance. It is showing up even when the day is ordinary.
Valentine’s Day may come with flowers and dinners, but these couples remind us that what lasts is much simpler. Love is built in the morning hug, the shared prayer, the remembered grocery list, the decision to stay curious about the same person year after year.
And maybe that is the most romantic note of all.
