TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Ann Romney is sharing with her fellow Republicans and the nation the family side of the man she met at a high school dance more than four decades ago. She says she wants to talk from the heart about her husband, Mitt Romney.

Making her national debut in a speech to the Republican National Convention, Mrs. Romney is offering a different glimpse of her husband, who can come across as stiff to voters.

She is speaking about their 43 years of marriage, and how they have stood together through tough times, including her battles with muscular sclerosis and breast cancer, while raising five sons and now enjoying 18 grandchildren.

With her husband listening from back stage, she is telling a cheering audience that theirs is not a storybook marriage but a real marriage.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.