This past weekend I had Alabama on my mind. Alabama is one of my favorite states. Funny that it starts with an A and ends with an A. I seem to have strange emotional attachments to states that start and end with the letter A. (Not counting Alaska. But with two out of the three--I'm in love.)

On March 29th, 1991 I returned home after serving an 18-month mission in the Alabama Birmingham Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I think my mom is still a little bit miffed that I was crying when I got off the plane! It's not that I wasn't excited to see my family again--but I had just left a huge group of people that I loved like my family but I wasn't sealed to them, so no guarantees I would ever see most of them again.

During my final interview with my mission president, he told me that he was sure there would be some wonderful young man just waiting for me when I returned home. I know he thought this would make me feel better, but at the time I thought he was just plain crazy! Turns out, he was downright inspired. I met this wonderful young man the very next day--March 30th--at the Provo Temple of all places. Since all the members of my stake presidency were out-of-town, I hadn't even been released from my mission yet. I've been married to that wonderful young man for almost 16 blissful years now.

Seventeen years after returning home, I still think very often of the experiences I had, the people I met, and the things that I learned in Alabama. It was eighteen months of hard work and pure miracles.