Tarzan, the musical, opened on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York on May 10, 2006. However, about four years prior to this play premiering on Broadway, God was moving behind the scenes to orchestrate a theatre-worthy real-life romance that was as swoon worthy as it was unlikely.
"An Unlikely Romance" is the true love story of Brandy and Jeff Bruce. It's a beautiful testimony of what can happen when you let God write your love story. Brandy and Jeff will celebrate their 12-year wedding anniversary tomorrow! So after you read their story, be sure to congratulate Mr. & Mrs. Bruce in your comments.
Enjoy!
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An Unlikely Romance
Brandy Bruce’s true love story
We met in the alley between our jobs.
Not the most romantic beginning, I know, but there it is. Jeff worked at a furniture store in downtown Conroe, Texas and I had just started working at a title company. Every evening at five o’clock I drove down the alley, past the furniture store. After a couple of weeks, I started to notice one of the delivery guys outside around five o’clock every day, inconspicuously sweeping the dirt.
Now if Jeff were telling this story, he’d probably pause here to include my dad.
For the first couple of weeks, Jeff thought I was dating my dad. It’s true. My dad was a patrolman for Conroe P.D. and the police station was right by the title company. So he’d stop by to see me, sometimes bringing flowers (specifically on my birthday) or donuts (my dad is awesome like that). So Jeff saw this 6’3” guy in uniform (carrying a gun) visiting me. What was he to do? Well, he could always have his boss call the director of the title company to see if his new employee was dating that cop who kept stopping by. Because that wouldn’t be strange at all, right? Yep, that’s what he did. Next thing I know, Jeff is stopping me in the alley after work and asking if I’d like to have lunch sometime.
We found out that we had mutual friends at this point, which you would think would be helpful in getting to know each other. But you’d be wrong. My friend Colleen was dating Jeff’s BFF Larry. At first Colleen told me she didn’t really think Jeff would be a good person for me to date. THEN she changed her story and said that Jeff would be a great person for me to date! I finally decided that a lunch date was pretty harmless. So I told Jeff I’d meet him for lunch.
Jeff is a pretty quiet guy. But not on that first date. Over chicken tenders and honey mustard sauce, I listened to this guy tell me his life story. I realized that our backgrounds were fairly different. I’d grown up in a very strong Christian home. Church, faith and a loving, peaceful family had made up my childhood experience. Jeff’s parents divorced when he was fourteen and he’d experienced a lot of things that I hadn’t. I just listened as he told me that he had made some major changes in his life recently and was now going to church with his friend Larry. (Also the church I attended! It’s a big church.)
I appreciated his openness and his honesty so much and I was shocked by how much I enjoyed our conversation. Then I had to leave the restaurant to make it to my orthodontist appointment on time (did I mention that I was just a young thing of 19 and Jeff was 22?). On the way to my appointment, I couldn’t stop smiling. I really liked this guy. So we kept dating. He met my family. I met his dad and his sister Jamie. Christmas came and Jeff ended up spending the holiday with my family. Everyone liked him, and I was crazy about him. I was leaving for college in Virginia in January, so we said we’d keep in touch during that semester apart. My dad drove me from Texas to Lynchburg, Virginia. I remember that we had breakfast together the morning before my dad had to leave for Texas. He asked me how serious I was about Jeff. I looked straight at my dad and said, “I’m going to marry him.” My dad looked back at me, nodded, and said, “Really? Well, all right.”
I knew in my heart that I would marry Jeff. I didn’t know when, but I knew it would happen. God had drawn Jeff to Himself before He brought me into his life and then God brought us together. I was there the day Jeff was baptized at our church. Honestly, God wrote our love story.
We talked on the phone every single day while I was in Virginia. But after that semester apart, Jeff decided to move to Virginia so we could be closer. He drove up to Lynchburg and found a job and an apartment with some roommates. And I realized how much he loved me, that he’d change his whole life to be with me. We were engaged a year after our first date and married three years later (right after I graduated).
We’ll celebrate our 12-year wedding anniversary on February 8th. Our journey together has been exactly that—a journey. And God has been with us every step of the way. He’s still writing our love story.
~*~
Author Bio:
Alison Taylor still mourns her first husband even as she fights to keep their shared dream of a B and B alive. But there's no denying that she and her big-city guest have all the right ingredients for something special. Will this star-crossed pair realize that second chances can happen…if only they'll let them?
~*~
Buy Brandy’s book Recipe for Love:
An Unlikely Romance
Brandy Bruce’s true love story
We met in the alley between our jobs.
Not the most romantic beginning, I know, but there it is. Jeff worked at a furniture store in downtown Conroe, Texas and I had just started working at a title company. Every evening at five o’clock I drove down the alley, past the furniture store. After a couple of weeks, I started to notice one of the delivery guys outside around five o’clock every day, inconspicuously sweeping the dirt.
Now if Jeff were telling this story, he’d probably pause here to include my dad.
For the first couple of weeks, Jeff thought I was dating my dad. It’s true. My dad was a patrolman for Conroe P.D. and the police station was right by the title company. So he’d stop by to see me, sometimes bringing flowers (specifically on my birthday) or donuts (my dad is awesome like that). So Jeff saw this 6’3” guy in uniform (carrying a gun) visiting me. What was he to do? Well, he could always have his boss call the director of the title company to see if his new employee was dating that cop who kept stopping by. Because that wouldn’t be strange at all, right? Yep, that’s what he did. Next thing I know, Jeff is stopping me in the alley after work and asking if I’d like to have lunch sometime.
We found out that we had mutual friends at this point, which you would think would be helpful in getting to know each other. But you’d be wrong. My friend Colleen was dating Jeff’s BFF Larry. At first Colleen told me she didn’t really think Jeff would be a good person for me to date. THEN she changed her story and said that Jeff would be a great person for me to date! I finally decided that a lunch date was pretty harmless. So I told Jeff I’d meet him for lunch.
Jeff is a pretty quiet guy. But not on that first date. Over chicken tenders and honey mustard sauce, I listened to this guy tell me his life story. I realized that our backgrounds were fairly different. I’d grown up in a very strong Christian home. Church, faith and a loving, peaceful family had made up my childhood experience. Jeff’s parents divorced when he was fourteen and he’d experienced a lot of things that I hadn’t. I just listened as he told me that he had made some major changes in his life recently and was now going to church with his friend Larry. (Also the church I attended! It’s a big church.)
I appreciated his openness and his honesty so much and I was shocked by how much I enjoyed our conversation. Then I had to leave the restaurant to make it to my orthodontist appointment on time (did I mention that I was just a young thing of 19 and Jeff was 22?). On the way to my appointment, I couldn’t stop smiling. I really liked this guy. So we kept dating. He met my family. I met his dad and his sister Jamie. Christmas came and Jeff ended up spending the holiday with my family. Everyone liked him, and I was crazy about him. I was leaving for college in Virginia in January, so we said we’d keep in touch during that semester apart. My dad drove me from Texas to Lynchburg, Virginia. I remember that we had breakfast together the morning before my dad had to leave for Texas. He asked me how serious I was about Jeff. I looked straight at my dad and said, “I’m going to marry him.” My dad looked back at me, nodded, and said, “Really? Well, all right.”
I knew in my heart that I would marry Jeff. I didn’t know when, but I knew it would happen. God had drawn Jeff to Himself before He brought me into his life and then God brought us together. I was there the day Jeff was baptized at our church. Honestly, God wrote our love story.
We talked on the phone every single day while I was in Virginia. But after that semester apart, Jeff decided to move to Virginia so we could be closer. He drove up to Lynchburg and found a job and an apartment with some roommates. And I realized how much he loved me, that he’d change his whole life to be with me. We were engaged a year after our first date and married three years later (right after I graduated).
We’ll celebrate our 12-year wedding anniversary on February 8th. Our journey together has been exactly that—a journey. And God has been with us every step of the way. He’s still writing our love story.
~*~
Author Bio:
Brandy Bruce was scribbling stories in spiral notebooks by the age of 12. Her love for books never left her. She graduated from Liberty University, married the one person she could never get enough of, then started working as a book editor for a publishing house. Brandy and her husband, Jeff, live in Colorado with their two children.
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Recipe for Love book blurb: Overworked chef Jeremy has ordered up the perfect vacation: a fly-fishing getaway and some much-needed alone time. But when he arrives in the Colorado mountain town, he's immediately captivated by the lovely proprietor of the bed-and-breakfast, not to mention her young son.
Alison Taylor still mourns her first husband even as she fights to keep their shared dream of a B and B alive. But there's no denying that she and her big-city guest have all the right ingredients for something special. Will this star-crossed pair realize that second chances can happen…if only they'll let them?
~*~
Buy Brandy’s book Recipe for Love:
Amazon.com - http://amzn.to/16Jmhdn
BarnesandNoble.com - http://bit.ly/1C3WlDF
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Connect with Brandy:
Blog- http://brandybruce.blogspot.com/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/brandybruce
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