Family of the Week- The Ballards

Who makes up your family?
Right now it’s just the two of us (Mike and Leslie). We also have two dogs of our own (Apollo and Rusty), and one foster dog (Wally). They’re all miniature pinschers.

How did you meet?
Wow, long story. We sort of met online and sort of met at work. The summer of 2000, I was in Missouri staying with my parents for the interim between college and grad school. So I went online and posted a personals ad for friends in my new city – not really dating necessarily, just friends. He responded to it because I mentioned being a poet. He had a band and wanted a poet for it, and we had similar musical tastes. We corresponded via email for months.

We didn’t meet “in real life” until about nine or ten months later. I got a new job, and we discovered we were coworkers. He instant messaged me and told me he was two cubicles to my left. The rest is history. We got married May of 2003.

Are you an “opposites attract” couple or do your opinions and interests mirror one another?
It’s a little of both. We’re both creative. He’s a musician and I’m a writer/poet/photographer. We’re both techie-geeks, into gadgets, etc. We have the same political opinions. Socially, I’m a little more of a homebody than he is. I also love to watch sports and he doesn’t. On a deeper level, we both come from similar families (fathers are veterans, middle class, etc.) but he didn’t grow up close to his cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. I grew up in a small town with generations of my family close by. As a result, “family” type things seem to be much more important to me.

Future family plans? Children?
Yes… hopefully soon. We’ve been waiting for the “right time,” and it looks like it might be soon. We’re about to buy our first home, and then… who knows?

What does life look like 20 years from now?
Cheering on our future son, who will be the starting quarterback for the Florida Gators. What else?


What advice would you have for a young Mixed and Happy couple just starting out?
Don’t assume that things will be “tough” when it comes to prejudice. Most likely they won’t. We thought we might have some trouble living in Middle Tennessee, but it turns out Mixed and Happy couples are everywhere. We thought our families (mostly mine) might have issues, and it turns out they didn’t. Just be who you are and don’t worry about others’ opinions. They’re not living your life.