Adultery, drugs, and divorce are the major factors that originally brought June Carter and Johnny Cash together. Though they were both married when they began touring together, they didn’t stop developing feelings for each other, which eventually manifested into a physical relationship. Eventually both ended up leaving their first marriages. June entered a second marriage, which was also unsuccessful. For years they pined after each other but Johnny suffered from a narcotics addiction and June knew that he couldn’t be the man she needed for her and her kids. After years of internal turmoil for both parties, June and her family aided Johnny in kicking his addiction and rising from the ashes of his former self into the glory he previously knew. As crazy as it may sound I want a love like Johnny and June. Maybe their love story isn’t a typical boy meets girl story, but it is one for the ages.

No, I don’t want to fall in love with a married drug addict, but I want to find someone I love enough that I would stick with them through thick and thin the way that June stood by Johnny’s side. I want to find someone that I’m over-the-moon passionate about the way June was for Johnny. She wrote his chart topper “Ring of Fire” about their relationship, she described her love for him as an all-consuming fire that she couldn’t escape. She knew she was falling for a man she had no right to love, but she couldn’t ignore her desire for Johnny and he couldn’t ignore his desire for her. Once they married she chose to put her career on the back burner, saying, “I worked with John, but I had enough sense to walk just a little ways behind him. I could have made more records, but I wanted a marriage.” Sacrifice and compromise are major parts of a relationship, and I want someone I’m willing to do those things for.

I want a man to love me the way Johnny loved June. He knew in order to be with her he had to give up the narcotics, and he eventually made that sacrifice with her help along the way. He was willing to clean up his life and literally “Walk The Line” because his love for her was greater than anything else in his life. He was a true romantic. When asked to describe paradise Johnny said, ”This morning, with her, having coffee." To describe such an everyday event as paradise demonstrates his passion for June.

He continued to love June throughout their marriage. In her 65^th birthday letter he wrote, “….how lucky I am to share my life with the greatest woman I ever met. You still fascinate and inspire me. You influence me for the better. You’re the object of my desire, the #1 Earthly reason from my existence."

No, their love story wasn’t perfect and some may criticize it due to the fact that it ended marriages, however as long as the other was still around they would have never been able to love their spouse the way they deserved. I want a love full of passion, respect, intensity, and desire. I want a love like Johnny and June.