Wilro Park couple celebrates 39 years of love
Celebrating four decades together through thick an thin.
Elevated heart rate … butterflies in the belly … the eternal loving gaze. These are the early stages of the delirium called Love. Coming in infinite variations, the early ecstasy mellows into an impenetrable warmth that binds the souls. True Love knows no equal and it often acts as a shield, sheltering a loving pair from all attacks.
On St Valentine’s Day 2020, André and Anette Westerveld will be celebrating 39 years of a roller-coaster of emotion and triumph. “Of course we have had our ups and downs, but that’s normal. Through thick and thin we have made it,” said Anette. The couple’s longevity could also be chalked up to André’s spontaneity, or Anette’s patience, as he has a knack for surprise acts to remind his wife how much he loves her.
André first noticed Anette Rossouw on the platform of Witpoortjie Train Station in 1977 while waiting for their regular train to Johannesburg. André was a student at the University of the Witwatersrand and Anette was a secretary at United Building Society. After meeting through a mutual friend, their courtship resulted in André proposing to Anette on her 21st birthday along the banks of Florida Lake.
Less than two years later, on the most romantic day of the year, the couple would be wed at the Witpoortjie NG Kerk before being whisked away to Natal for their honeymoon. “We chose it so I wouldn’t forget,” joked André, acknowledging the yearly reminders of the day of lovers. “We don’t do special gifts but we do make a point of going away,” Anette said.
This Valentine’s month, the couple will be visiting their daughter in Australia while also getting the opportunity to tick an item off their bucket list when they attend the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix. Other anniversary highlights include André arranging a surprise trip to Mauritius. When asked what he had in store for their Ruby anniversary, Andre cheekily hinted, “The mind is turning”.
The Westerveld’s journey is an oddity in modern society but the couple ensures that it can be done. “You have to be in it for the long haul,” assured André while Anette’s eloquent advice is simply “Vasbyt!”.
Youth that may be weary of Love, its trapping and its heartbreaks, need only look to André and Anette for inspiration that true love is not only real, but everlasting.
