Dimples Romana and husband of 20 years, Boyet Ahmee. Image: Instagram/@dimplesromana
Actress-TV host Dimples Romana shared that the biggest gift of her 20th anniversary with husband Boyet Ahmee is that the couple have begun to acknowledge their roles in the family.
Earlier this month, Romana and Ahmee—who also has his own YouTube channel—marked the 20th year of their marriage, and shared on “Magandang Buhay” the struggles and triumphs of their relationship.
On the show’s Monday (June 26) episode, the couple talked about how Romana’s busy career had been an issue in their relationship, with Ahmee recalling going through “something” last year that he couldn’t pinpoint at first, but which he revealed later as his longing for his wife.
“[No’ng] nauso ‘yung lock-in [taping], I realized na, okay, clingy pala ako (When lock-in taping became the trend, I realized that, okay, I’m actually clingy),” adding how he thought he was okay with his wife starting her lock-in taping. He would also point out how they spent so much time together as a family during the lockdown.
“[W]hen she started doing lock-in [taping], I thought okay ako (I was okay). [The] kids are there, pero (but) moments like [when] I’m alone…we don’t talk a lot ‘pag nasa bahay (when we’re at home), pero (but) as long as my eyes can see her in my peripheral vision [okay na ‘ko] (I’m okay),” Ahmee explained.
The “Huwag Kang Mangamba” actress, who admitted that she was surprised to find out about her husband’s feelings regarding her work, shared that she would always tell Ahmee that when you’re a working mom, “there’s a lot of guilt that I’m not home.”
Romana shared that in a conversation with Ahmee—during which they got to clear things up—she told her husband how “I hope you realize that I may not be home, and Lord knows how much I pray I could be home with you guys and just be there, but the dreams of your children are so big,” explaining how there is nothing more painful for a parent than not being able to provide what your children want.
Earlier, Ahmee shared that from their talk, he began to recognize that Romana is really busy and it’s something he cannot fix. “Magkakasakit ‘yan ‘pag ‘di gumagalaw. So, ang sinabi ko na lang sa sarili ko, ‘pag nasa akin siya, akin siya,” he explained. (She’ll get sick if she does not move. So, what I just told myself is, when she’s with me, she’s mine.)
During the same conversation, Romana shared how she reminded Ahmee of how she would always tell him that she values and is impressed that he stays home, and hoped that “time will come that you also get to appreciate what I do even when I’m not doing the same things you are doing.”
“I think, beautifully, the biggest gift of this 20th anniversary…is that finally, we are now acknowledging, rightfully, each other’s roles. So it may not be conventional, but it is what works for us,” shared the actress.
Romana also acknowledged the big role their kids have played in their marriage.
“[E]verytime we feel we are about to let go of one another…when we think of them [kids] and how they are, and who they are and who they wanna be, Boyet and I…hold each other harder,” she shared.
She added how for their family, it’s more of the kids, raising them. “Mas sila ‘yung nagtuturo sa’min ng mga values na maaaring hindi namin natutunan kaagad no’ng mga bata kami,” Romana explained. (They’re the ones teaching us more the values that we might not have learned right away when we were kids.)
At the end of the interview, the couple got to exchange heartfelt messages. Ahmee thanked his wife for their 20-year marriage, and declared that “the first time you said ‘yes,’ up until now, it [the feeling] is still the same. So, I am looking forward to more years.”
“I may not be as physically fit as the first time we said ‘yes’ to each other, but I assure you my heart will always be for you. Love you,” he promised Romana.
Romana, in her message, shared how she fights for Ahmee all the time, and wanted him to know that even though there are days when she’d get tired and might say things she doesn’t mean, she thinks of him in all that she does.
She promised him that whatever happens, even when the time comes that he truly doesn’t like her anymore, “I will still remind you that my heart for you will always want our love to grow together, that I’ll always be your friend no matter what happens, that I will love you even when you don’t love me anymore. Happy anniversary, Ta,” she said as she capped off her message.
The couple got introduced to each other as neighbors, and would later on become friends before deciding to get together and tie the knot. They have three children—19-year-old daughter Callie, 8-year-old Alonzo and Elio, who recently celebrated his first birthday. /ra