This year, the conference was held in San Antonio, Texas. Unfortunately, this was a few weeks ago, around the time the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was making global headlines, but not much was understood about how necessary social distancing really was to mitigate the threat. The conference was overshadowed by this pandemic, with no handshakes, countless canceled panels and panelists, and lots of hand-sanitizing. However, San Antonio was still a beautiful city, so I wanted to share my experience as a first-time visitor there.
Read MoreIn honor of Valentine's Day, I decided to pick a topic for today's post based on love. In particular, I wanted to address a question about love that comes up in my own life a lot: How do you know you're ready to be married when you're so young? (Usually preceded by, "You have a fiancé??? How old are you??? And followed by, "But you've got so much of your life ahead of you." [I always like how this comment equates marriage with a premature death. It's particularly encouraging when it is then followed by a congratulations on my engagement.]) So today, I'm going to talk about the ways I knew I had found my future husband at 21 years old and why I feel only joy and excitement at the prospect of marrying him at 24 years old.
Read MoreThomas Jefferson wrote in his autobiography, "So ask the travelled inhabitant of any nation, In what country on earth would you rather live?—Certainly in my own, where are all my friends, my relations, and the earliest & sweetest affections and recollections of my life. Which would be your second choice? France."
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