Thank You Danny Ward

In March of 1988 I met a man that would eventually change my life.

Danny Ward knew my sister from the softball fields. Many of her friends played ball and she hung out there a lot. Now, I have no idea how Danny knew about me or anything but my sister told me he wanted to take me out. She said he was a very nice guy. I had just broken up for the second, and final, time with a guy that I'd been involved with since I was 15 (I was now 21, almost 22). The first time we had broken up I was devastated. The second time was at my choice so I was ready to meet other people.

I wasn't looking for anything long-term or permanent, just wanted to have some fun before my college days were over and work would start.

So we went out and had a nice time. Very casual and relaxing evening. I think we went bowling.

Then he called again asking me to come watch a ball tournament being held in the town where I attended college over the upcoming weekend. I truly didn't want to go. Hanging out at ball fields was not my cup of tea, I didn't want Danny to get the wrong impression that I was more interested in him than I was, and that weekend was orientation weekend for incoming students and parents and as a Student Host I had to be ready to "work" at like 6:30 on Saturday morning. Just seemed like a good idea all the way around to just skip the ballgames.

Then I read an article in a women's magazine that simply said if you have no other plans and are asked out you should go. You might actually have a good time and it beats staying home to do nothing. So my roommate and I went but we didn't really watch the game. And then I got talked into going Saturday after my Student Host duties were over. I was so tired from being up the previous night late and getting up early that I literally dozed through that ballgame. They had to wake me when it was over.

As I'm putting my lawn chair in the back of Danny's car I see a glimpse of red out of the corner of my eye and turned to looked. Driving that cherry red IROC Camero was one of the best looking men I had ever seen. All I could do was look.

We pull into the fast food restaurant for lunch and there's the guy again. I start asking questions at this point. Turned out he was on Danny's team and only went by a nickname so Danny didn't know his real name.

I know now that I didn't handle this situation very well, but I started hanging out at the ball field. It took me 6 weeks before I finally convinced this man that I was not in any exclusive relationship and could certainly go on a date with him.

Once he started to get the hints and "see the light" he walked up to me one Saturday afternoon at a ballgame and announced - "I'm going to marry you."

And 20 years ago today, he did.

We hadn't even had our first date yet when he made that declaration. And it wasn't a question or a musing. It was a declarative sentence.

That was in late May 1988. The first weekend of August 1988 we were looking at engagement rings. You see, even though I answered his statement with "You don't even know me. Maybe you should get to know me first" and all kinds of warning bells were going off in my brain, it didn't take me long to know that he was The One.

On December 21 I came home from the grocery store to fix dinner for the two of us and we nearly got into a knock-down-drag-out over the star on my Christmas tree being crooked. He kept telling me that it being off-kilter was bothering him. I kept pointing out that he was almost as tall as the tree and he could very easily straighten it if it was bothering him that much. After much back and forth and me seriously getting angry I finally grabbed a chair from the kitchen table, stomped over to the tree and climbed up.

And there it was. My engagement ring was hanging on one of the top branches, just sparkling in the tree lights. I hadn't known that he'd gone back and bought it. He was working, at that time, for a manufacturing company and barely made minimum wage so it had taken him from August until then to pay for it.

That is one of the reasons why I'll never trade it in for anything bigger or fancier or anything like that. This ring is extra special.

Most people in the church on that hot August afternoon probably wouldn't have laid odds that we'd last six months. We were just about as opposite as two people could be in just about every aspect of our lives. But we loved each other and that was all that we could see that mattered. Everything else would work itself out.

And it has.

The last 20 years have been wonderful. There were some very tough times and a couple of instances where we almost called it quits. But those are the normal bumps that marriages go through. We worked on them and came out stronger on the other side. He has stood beside me through some incredibly difficult times. I can say unequivocally that I wouldn't have made it without him.

So, to my Rock, Right-hand, and any other adjective you can think of, I say thank you. Thank you for all that you do and all that you are. I pray every night that we get many many more years together. Thank you for making me the happiest woman.

And thank you Danny Ward for inviting me to that first ballgame. Things might have gotten a little awkward that summer and you never intended to play matchmaker, but you did. And I thank you.