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An apple a day keeps divorce at bay, couple says

“By the time you have finished eating the 30 apples, I will come home and we will be reunited.” — Lee Ta-pin, Kaohsiung resident

A couple has been living happily together for half a century because the husband has been giving his wife an apple a day to keep their marriage sweet, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday.

Lee Ta-pin (李大濱), 77, and Sung Chin-yu (宋金玉), 74, revealed their secret for a happy marriage while celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on Sunday in Kaohsiung, the Merit Times reported.

A photograph with the story showed Lee, wearing a dark suit and tie, and Sung, wearing a wedding gown, renewing their vows while each held a red apple.

Their tradition began three months after their wedding when Lee, an army reservist, was called up to serve for 30 days. Knowing that Sung liked apples, Lee bought a basket of them for her, telling her to eat an apple a day when she missed him.

“By the time you have finished eating the 30 apples, I will be home and we will be reunited,” he said.

Lee has been buying apples for Sung ever since, except when fruit shops were closed on typhoon days.

“I have enjoyed a sweet life because of the sweet apples he bought me,” the newspaper quoted Sung as saying.

In the 1960s and 1970s, apples were very expensive because they were not grown locally and were imported from the US. A Red Delicious apple cost US$2, which was enough to buy food for a family for several days.
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