Golden anniversary for the Moros

MICK and Susan Moro met in 1967 when they were 18 and 16 respectively, it was love at first sight, and on March 14, they’ll celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

“I think being friends, that’s probably the most important thing. We are friends as well as being husband and wife, we have a lot of common interests and we don’t fight very much,” Susan said.

“On our wedding day my Grandma said to me ‘never go to bed angry’, so we haven’t.”

Over a cup of tea, the Portarlington couple recounted how they first met, their “magical” wedding day and the decades spent growing old together.

“I was going to play netball with one of my girlfriends, we’d normally catch the bus, but she said a boy from school (Mick) was going to take us. He was 18 and had his license,” Sue said.

“We all piled into the car and he took us there and waited for the game to finish and drove us home. He called me later and asked me out on a date.”

The pair went ice skating at St Moritz Ice Rink in St Kilda. Three years later, after Mick was conscripted to Vietnam, they married on March 14, 1970 at Chorpus Christie Catholic Church in Kingsville.

“We didn’t have a big wedding. My mum was a widow, so we had the reception in her backyard. We caught the train to Footscray to get our hair done and then Mum paid for us to get a taxi home, that was unheard of.

“It really was the most wonderful day. They decorated our Holden with shaving cream and cans and as we drove into the city, police stopped the traffic and waved us through.”

Mick says the couple has “three lovely daughters and eight grandchildren who have relocated up north to warmer climates; they keep us busy”.

“You’re a couple and you have three children and you think it will be wonderful when they grow up and you won’t have all their problems, but they grow up and have children and partners and then you worry about all their problems too,” Susan said.

When asked about the secret to a happy marriage, Mick replied “no secrets”.

“We are into each other, emotionally, physically. We don’t keep secrets from one another. I’d prefer to go out and do something socially with Susan then head off to the hotel for a guys’ night.”

Mick said he believes that marriages today have to compete with more materialistic things, whereas they always only needed each other.

“I think social media makes people think their lives aren’t enough. And they live beyond their means buying things they can’t afford and measuring themselves against others.

“We only had a fridge in our first house, but we had each other and that has always been enough.”