Danielle Burkleo

a love story: beth anne ballance

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My husband & I were never supposed to fall in love.
I was dating the boy I was “supposed to marry” from high school. He was a country boy that questioned Jesus & wore sandals in January. One day, he grabbed my arm outside McIver building & said, “Hey, you’re really smart. Do you want to be in my group?” I looked down at the hand on my & up into blue eyes that reflected boyish uncertainty.
A year later, my heart broke into a million pieces & he was there as a friend to help me pick them up by writing a list of reasons any boy would fall in love with me. I trusted him, even though he said he didn’t trust Jesus.
It took another year of late night instant messaging & class projects & one day outside the business school, he pulled me into a hug for the first time. My toes tingled, my heart tingled, & yes, even my hiney tingled. With one hug, my entire view on him changed & an hour later, I sat studying in the student lounge & those blue eyes shot me a wink across the table. My heart was officially his.
He took me on our first date & I wore an aqua tshirt & khaki blazer & we ate chicken fingers at O’Charleys. A week later after sleeping in my dorm room, he leaned over & kissed me for the first time. One hand on my cheek, morning breath & sweatpants. The sweetest, most innocent kiss ever that led to another & another & another. We had a wonderful courtship & two years later, he was down on one knee in the sand at sunset. With a new diamond on my left hand, we sat by the ocean & talked about our future, our dreams. We ran up to my family’s beach house & I waved my left hand in excitement. We opened a bottle of champagne & nothing could steal the joy of that day.
A year later, I put on a beautiful ivory dress with lace &a pearls. He wore a black tux & when the pastor announced us husband & wife, I bounced on my toes at the alter. The entire congregation laughed, but all I saw were those blue eyes, the ones that held my heart & trust since the moment I met him.
In the past six years of marriage, we’ve reach highs of parenthood & homebuying to the lows of losing a baby & jobs & hope.
He is my heart & my rock, the constant steady in my world that keeps me trusting in goodness when we sit down at night for prayers with our little boy. He makes my life a love story.
Beth Anne blogs at The Heir to Blair. 
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