The Author

I was raised in Choctaw, Oklahoma, where there's not even a movie theater to help you get through the lazy summers. It was the perfect place to grow up -- thirty minutes from a mall and twenty minutes from pastures. I was raised to love God and country, as any young Bible-Belter should. There's no need to leave. You'll just end up where you started. I was born to the most hard-working parents. They came from humble backgrounds and have come to be honest and successful people who tell it like it is and love hard. I'm the middle of three girls, which, if you ask me, means there are far too few pictures of me and far too many fights over clothes and makeup. We're the three most different people in the world, which means that most of the time, we don't understand each other. Yet, I know that there is no one in the world that loves me like they love me. 

Somewhere in what seemed like the shortest amount of time, I grew up. Just like that. You think it'll be some divine, inspired moment; but really you just suddenly understand that you better hurry and find yourself so you can pay back your student loans. College has been stressful and not what I expected. I think I thought it'd be carefree and easy -- heck, maybe it is for some people. I've gained some precious friends and lost those I loved. You could say that for me, it's been a mess and I feel lucky to be on the second half of this journey. My favorite part about college has been studying abroad. Yeah, yeah, I know. Everyone who's studied abroad says it changed their life and you rolled your eyes like you're doing right now. I'm not saying it changed my life. I'm saying it saved it. The most scary feeling a young adult can encounter is feeling lost in space, unguided, uncertain. Sometimes you just need to have those moments of clarity, where you're so certain of love, friendship, God, the things that matter, the things that don't. For some people, this clarity comes with relationships, their job, it's a million things. Mine was watching the sun set on the simplest city on a hill,  the little row boats ebbing and flowing with the calm waves that were splashing my feet, the sky clear and clean, and me, having that ah-ha moment . . . Finally understanding what I want in life: To find peace where I expect adventure, to find love where I go looking for friendship, and to find God in the beauty that surrounds me.