By Diana Ghazaryan

85 year-old Mourad and 80 year-old Ruzan Hayrapetyan are the oldest married couple in Harzhis, a village in Armenia’s southern Syunik Province.

The couple has big plans to celebrate their 60 wedding anniversary on February 21.

They’ve decided to slaughter a pig and a lamb and have a big party with their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Neighbors and friends are also invited.

Their youngest son will travel all the way from Russia to be there on their special day.

Mourad Hayrapetyan remembers how he met his wife for the first time. He had just returned to his native village from the army. Mourad was 25.

“I returned from the army a handsome guy. I had put on some weight and was looking good. I got to the village and spotted this pretty girl. I had my eye on her,” Mourad recounts.

Mourad says that his mother wanted him to marry, arguing that she was all alone in the house and wanted some company. “Well, my mom had to approve. That was the custom back then. We couldn’t go against her. I brought three girls home for her to scrutinize. My mom looked at all of them and said, ‘I want Ruzan’. For me, my mother’s word was like the law,” Mourad says, adding that even if his mother had picked a girl he wasn’t fond of, he wouldn’t have complained.

Ruzan laughs. “I’ve never regretted a minute of married life. It’s been really easy living with Mourad. He’s a good man and a father. We haven’t had a bad word or ill feelings for another in 60 years of marriage. We raised our kids and worked. We’ve grown old together.”

The couple has seven children – five girls and two boys. They have more than ten grandchildren and haven’t bothered counting the great-grandchildren.

They only regret not having any of their kids with them in the village. “We suffered and raised them. We worked so that they wouldn’t have to worry about anything,” Ruzan says.

Mourad is very attentive regarding his wife. Every morning he gets up before her and makes the coffee. Only then does he wake her up so that they can enjoy that first cup of coffee together.

“True, long gone are the days for confessing my love, but she knows how much I love and respect her. Now, I’ve become like a child. So has she. Now our children love and take care of us like children,” Mourad says.

During our conversation, the couple’s young grandson walks into the room. Mourad complains that there’s a quarrel in the house every day.

The couple tell the boy he should get married and bring a nice girl home.

The grandson is quick to respond, “Get married? Is this a country to get married in?”

“Stop making excuses,” Mourad counters.

Saying our farewells, Ruzan shows me the house and garden they built.

“Now, I no longer have any worries. I can die in peace. I’ve made a tranquil life for myself. No matter the number of children I have, I’ve seen to all of them.”

(Diana Ghazaryan is a fourth year student at Yerevan State University’s Faculty of Journalism)