Amazon.com

Monday 19 March 2018

Is Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the Reformer?

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

He is known to many simply by his initials, MBS, the 32-year-old was given expansive new powers by his father just nine months ago and arrives Tuesday in Washington, D.C. for a summit with President Trump in the midst of a major push to modernize his conservative Islamic Kingdom.
Bin Salman has already instituted a series of surprising reforms to make the Muslim country -- known for its bearded religious police enforcing strict social codes -- more open and accepting of Western norms.
Last fall, the Kingdom agreed for the first time to allow women to drive. After 35 years, movie theatres will open again (they were shut in the 1980s during a wave of ultra-conservatism). In a break with the rigid guardianship that’s defined the kingdom for decades, it was recently announced that women can launch their own businesses without consent from a husband or male relative. And a prohibition on women attending sporting events in national stadiums was lifted.

During an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” the crown prince, who has curtailed the ability of religious police to arrest women for dress code violations, said women are equal to men: “We are all human beings and there is no difference.”


Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is pushing for modernization in his conservative Islamic country.  (Reuters)

Although Saudi women have been dictated by custom and the religious police to wear the abaya, a full-length black cloak that covers everything except their hands and face in public, bin Salman pushed back against that idea during the interview.
“The laws are very clear and stipulated in the laws of Sharia: that women wear decent, respectful clothing, like men,” said bin Salman. “This, however, does not particularly specify a black abaya or a black head cover. The decision is entirely left for women to decide what type of decent and respectful attire she chooses to wear.”
Bin Salman went on to explain that “extremists” forbidding the mixing of men and women are pushing ideas that “contradict the way of life during the time of the prophet and the Caliphs.”
In another sign of liberalization, Saudi Arabia will issue its first tourist visas later this year to attract money from overseas visitors. Under bin Salman’s ‘Vision 2030’ initiative, the Kingdom wants to have 30 million visitors per year by 2030 and it wants annual tourism spending to hit $47 billion by 2020.


The crown prince pushed back on the idea that women in Saudi Arabia must wear a full-length black cloak.  (Reuters)


And the crown prince, who has preached fiscal discipline for his country but faced criticism for his own spending, including purchasing a $450 million Leonard da Vinci painting of Jesus Christ, defended his lavish lifestyle.
“As far as my private expenses, I’m a rich person and not a poor person,” he said. “I’m not Gandhi or Mandela.”
So far, reaction to the changes involving women has been greeted with cautious optimism, especially among the country's under-30 crowd, which makes up about two-thirds of Saudi Arabia's population.
“I love him,” Ibtihal Shogair, 25, told the New York Times. “He came and he was a young man who thought more like us.”
“I love him. He came and he was a young man who thought more like us.”
- Ibtihal Shogair

In recent years, Shogair and her female friend told the publication, there were few options for entertainment for women and they would often be hassled by the religious police despite already dressing modestly. 
Now, they make weekend plans to go out and they both plan to get driver's licenses in June when the government officially begins issuing them to women. 
"I really feel the end of the driving ban means Saudi women are about to get more and more rights and do so many things we weren’t able to do before," Habiba, 20, told New York magazine. "Lifting the ban will help women save money too, because they won’t have to spend so much on taxis or on the salaries of private drivers."
Although the Saudi domestic reforms are likely to win praise from the U.S., other Western countries and advocates for gender equality, they won't be enough on their own to revamp and diversify the country's oil-dependent economy.

The modernization push is ongoing and will no doubt be a topic of the crown prince's conversation with Trump on Tuesday.

Vladimir Putin Is Elected for The Fourth Time As Russian President.

Vladimir Putin


Senior officials say decisive victory reflects popular support for muscular foreign policy

Senior Russian officials have said that Vladimir Putin’s decisive win in the presidential elections reflects popular support for his muscular foreign policy and would bolster his role as a counterweight to the west.
“It is now obvious to everyone that Putin pursues an independent foreign policy and stands up for the national interests that the citizens of our country share,” Valentina Matviyenko, head of the federation council, told the Russia 24 television station on Monday. “This strengthens his capabilities, this strengthens his weight, this strengthens his authority in the world.”

But Putin sought to play the peacemaker at a meeting with his seven defeated presidential challengers in the Kremlin. “We have no intention of engaging in some kind of arms race,” he said. “Just the opposite, we will seek to develop constructive relations with other countries. We will do all we can to solve all disputes with our partners using political and diplomatic means.”

Putin’s victory, with a 76.7% share of the vote, comes amid high tensions between London and Moscow over the nerve agent attack in Salisbury. Investigators from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons arrived in the UK on Monday to begin testing samples from the 4 March attack, which Putin has denied was Moscow’s doing.

There was a certain swagger in Moscow after Putin’s victory. His campaign head thanked Great Britain for mobilising Russian voters over the nerve agent attack. Putin’s first executive order of the day was to call up army reservists for military training.

But opposition activists highlighted a number of cases of vote rigging and statistical anomalies, including millions of votes cast in polling places that recorded exactly 85%, 90% and 95% turnout. The respected Russian business daily Vedomosti also noted the appearance of nearly 1.5 million votes overnight, equivalent to 2% of the vote.
The total number of ballots cast on Sunday for Putin, who has spent 18 years as Russia’s most powerful politician, exceeded 56.2m. That was a record total, even discounting the nearly 1m votes he gained as a result of the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said on Monday there had been no real choice in Russia’s presidential election and complained it had been marked by unfair pressure on critical voices.
“Choice without real competition, as we have seen here, is not a real choice,” the OSCE said in a statement, adding that restrictions on fundamental freedoms, as well as on candidate registration, had limited the space for political engagement. Russia’s central election commission said on Monday morning that it had not registered any serious complaints of violations.

Vladimir Putin

Putin’s most serious rival, the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was barred from the race. The central election commission said that the communist candidate, Pavel Grudinin, came second with 11.8% of the vote, and third was the ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky (5.6%). The only candidate to openly criticise Putin during the campaign, the liberal TV star Ksenia Sobchak, won 1.6%.

Putin has never faced a serious threat to his rule since he came to power on the eve of the new millennium. He won 53% of the vote in the 2000 presidential election, 71% in 2004 and 63% in 2012.

Turnout at the elections on Sunday was more than 67%, the commission reported. The Kremlin had initially sought a 70% share of the vote with 70% turnout but was said to have lowered its expectations as the election drew closer.
About 10 million more Russians voted for Putin than in 2012, when he appeared on the defensive after mass voter fraud at parliamentary elections sparked protests in Moscow and other large cities.

Perhaps the most surprising result came from Moscow itself, where Putin won just 47% of the vote in the 2012 elections. On Sunday he took 70% of the capital city, one of the main bastions of the opposition.
The opposition pointed to video evidence of voter irregularities at a number of polling stations across Russia. They included ballot stuffing and attacks on some vote observers, as well as reports of ballots being cast by “dead souls”, people who have died but remain on the electoral rolls.
In one video shared online from the Siberian region of Yakutia, voters patiently queued behind a man shoving ballots into the ballot box.

Turnout is usually highest in the North Caucasus, where a machine of administrative support regularly pushes turnout, and vote share for Putin, above 90%. In Dagestan, an election monitor said he was beaten by a crowd of several dozen men. During the encounter turnout at his polling site jumped significantly. 
One polling place in Chechnya, where observers managed to remain until the end of voting, showed just 35% turnout. In others where there were no observers, it was close to 100%.

The Kremlin had pushed a broad get-out-the-vote campaign before the elections, apparently concerned that Putin’s popularity might not be enough to get voters to the polls. Incentives included raffles for prizes including iPhone Xs and cars.

On Sunday night Putin’s campaign chairman declared turnout to be high and needled London by suggesting that it may have been a rally-round-the-flag response by voters to the accusations of Russian involvement in the nerve agent attack on a former spy in the UK.

“Right now the turnout numbers are higher than we expected. We need to thank Great Britain for that because once again they did not consider the Russian mentality,” the chairman said. “Once again we were subject to pressure at just the moment when we needed to mobilize.”


Wednesday 14 March 2018

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and his eldest son, Prince George- like father, like son.

(L-R) Prince William accompanied by his mother on his first day of school in London on Jan. 15, 1987; Prince George with his father on his first day of school in London on Sept. 7, 2017. © Richard Pohle - WPA Pool/Getty Images; Brendan Beirne/Rex/Shutterstock



These sets of pictures give us the reminiscence feeling because it allows us to look back and forward at the same time, It looks here as if time is standing still and also stretching out his hands reaching to the future all at the same time, today our hearts are full of hope.

In this lovely sight to behold, we present like father, like son. The Esteemed Duo - Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and his eldest son, Prince George, bear a striking resemblance to one another. Here's taking a look at the duo in near-alike expressions.

Enjoy!💓💓💓💓💓💓💓


(L-R) Prince William with his mother at Kensington Palace in London on Feb. 1, 1983; Prince George with his mother in Sydney, Australia on April 16, 2014. © Tim Graham/Getty Images; Mark Large/ANL/Rex/Shutterstock
(L-R) Prince William with his father, Prince Charles, during the Trooping the Colour parade in London on June 16, 1984; Prince George with Prince William at the Trooping the Colour parade on June 13, 2015. © Tim Graham/Getty Images; Alan Davidson/Silverhub/Rex/Shutterstock 

(L-R) Prince William on a visit to HMS Brazen in London on Feb. 5, 1986; Prince George after a Christmas Day service in Englefield, U.K. on Dec. 25, 2016, .© Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images; Rex/Shutterstock 

(L-R) Prince William with his mother, Princess Diana, at his christening ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London on Aug. 4, 1982; Prince George with his mother, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, during his christening at St. James's Palace in London on Oct. 23, 2013.  © Kent Gavin/Mirrorpix/Getty Images; Rex/Shutterstock 



(L-R) Prince William at Kensington Palace on May 23, 1985; Prince George during a visit to Warsaw, Poland on July 17, 2017.© Tim Graham/Getty Images; Rex/Shutterstock 

(L-R) Prince William on board the royal yacht Brittania in April 1985; Prince George with Princess Charlotte in a royal portrait in May 2015.© Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images; Rex/Shutterstock 


Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and his eldest son, Prince George, bear a striking resemblance to one another. Here's taking a look at the duo in near-alike expressions.© Mauro Carraro/Rex/Shutterstock; Rex/Shutterstock 
(Pictured, L-R) Prince William during the birth of his younger brother, Prince Harry, in London, U.K. on Sept. 15, 1984; Prince George at the christening of his younger sister, Princess Charlotte, in Sandringham, U.K. on July 5, 2015.

(L-R) Prince William at his first official photo-call in Kensington Palace on Dec. 14, 1983; Prince George with his father during a skiing trip to the French Alps on March 3, 2016. © Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images; John Stillwell - WPA Pool/Getty Images 

(L-R) Prince William at Kensington Palace on June 12, 1984; Prince George on his first birthday at National History Museum in London on July 2, 2014. © Tim Graham/Getty Images; John Stillwell - WPA Pool /Getty Images 

Prince Charles, carrying Prince William, arrives at Scotland's Aberdeen Airport; Prince William and Prince George look on before boarding a Royal Australian Air Force plane for their flight to Australia at New Zealand's Wellington Airport. © Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images; Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images


💓💓💓💓😍😍😍💓


Iconic Scientist Stephen Hawking Dies At 76

Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with a debilitating motor neuron disease when he was 21. He went on to become one of the world's most prominent scientists.

Stephen Hawking died Wednesday after complications due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease. He was 76.

The world-renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist were best known for his work on black holes. Hawking theorized that, contrary to the prevailing scientific belief that black holes were inescapable for all forms of matter and energy, they actually emitted a form of radiation ― now known as Hawking radiation. He also played a key role in the mathematical effort to unify Einstein’s general theory of relativity with the emergent field of quantum physics. 
Hawking used his position as one of the world’s most famous scientists as a platform to discuss a wide range of issues, from the existence of extraterrestrial life to the nature of philosophy. He skyrocketed to public prominence in 1988, when he published his first general-audience book, A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. The cosmology treatise has sold approximately 10 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling science books of all time. 
In 1963, when he was just 21 years old, Hawking was famously diagnosed with the debilitating motor neuron disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Though 80 percent of those with ALS die within five years of diagnosis, and Hawking’s own doctors gave him roughly two years to live, he survived for decades, perhaps longer than any other patient with the disease in medical history. Hawking used a wheelchair to move around and a sophisticated computer system to speak for much of his time as a public figure. 
The physicist’s inspiring ― and turbulent ― personal story was dramatized in the 2014 movie “The Theory of Everything,” which was based on a memoir by Hawking’s first wife, Jane Wilde. Actor Eddie Redmayne’s portrayal of Hawking in the film won him an Oscar for best actor.
Stephen Hawking, Jane Wilde Hawking and family attend the British Academy Film Awards at The Royal Opera House on Feb. 8, 2015 in London. (Fred Duval/FilmMagic via Getty Images) More

Hawking was born on Jan. 8, 1942 ― the 300th anniversary of Galileo’s death ― in Oxford, England, to Frank, a physician specializing in tropical disease, and Isobel, a medical secretary. He and his three younger siblings grew up mostly in the town of St. Albans, just north of London, in what has been described as a highly intellectually-engaged home.
At the St. Albans School, Hawking was an indifferent student, preferring to spend his time playing board games and tinkering with computers. But he nonetheless gained admittance to his father’s alma mater, University College at Oxford University, in 1959, at the age of 17. 
Upon arriving at Oxford, Hawking toyed with the idea of studying either math or medicine before eventually settling on physics. His attitude toward academic work remained lackadaisical in college. He rarely attended lectures and has said that he spent only 1,000 hours on studies during his three years at Oxford, or just an hour a day.
Still, Hawking’s natural brilliance started to shine through as an undergraduate ― and he apparently felt that his tutors resented him for doing so well with so little work. When he submitted his final thesis, it was given a grade on the border between first-class honours and second-class honours, so Hawking had to face an oral exam that would determine his grade. Knowing his reputation, he reportedly told his examiners, “If you award me a First, I will go to Cambridge. If I receive a Second, I shall stay in Oxford, so I expect you will give me a First.”
He got a First. And, as promised, Hawking enrolled in graduate school at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1962, studying under the physicist Dennis Sciama and the famed astronomer Fred Hoyle. He became interested in the then-nascent study of black holes and singularities, the existence of which had been implied by Einstein’s general theory of relativity. 
 
Stephen Hawking in Chicago on Dec. 15, 1986. After Hawking lost his voice to pneumonia the prior year, computer scientist Walter Woltosz gave him a device that helped him vocalize words that he typed. (Associated Press)

While studying at Cambridge, Hawking met Wilde, a fellow St. Albans native who was a student in modern languages at 
Westfield College in London at the time. Before the two started dating, Hawking collapsed while ice skating and couldn’t get up. His mother made him go to the doctor, who diagnosed him with ALS and estimated he had just over two years to live.

Years later, during a symposium at Cambridge on his 70th birthday, Hawking reflected on how much he struggled to stay motivated after his diagnosis. Why work so hard for a PhD when you could be dead in two years?
“However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up”. Stephen Hawking, as he celebrated his 70th birthday
“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet,” he said. “Try to make sense of what you see and about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”
Hawking’s motor control deteriorated rapidly; he was soon walking to class on crutches. Yet the disease spurred him to deepen his relationship with Wilde quickly. They married in 1965.
After receiving his doctorate in cosmology, Hawking stayed at Cambridge to continue studying some of the most essential questions about the structure of the universe. In 1968, a year after Jane gave birth their eldest son, Roger, Hawking took a post at the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge and began the mature phase of his academic career. 
Over the next decade, Hawking published a string of groundbreaking papers on cosmology and theoretical physics that made him a celebrity in the scientific community.
He and English mathematician Roger Penrose wrote key papers in the late 1960s that related the Big Bang ― the event that created the universe ― and black holes, proving that both were the result of singularities in the fabric of space-time. In the early 1970s, Hawking and several other physicists co-wrote a proof of the hypothesis that all black holes can be described in terms of just their mass, angular momentum and electric charge
It was in 1974 that Hawking proposed what is widely considered his most significant theory: that black holes can emit subatomic particles, now known as Hawking radiation. Prior to his paper, physicists had been sure that nothing could escape the crushing gravity of a black hole. The existence of Hawking radiation also implies that black holes can eventually wither away and die, something that had previously been inconceivable to scientists. 
Soon after publishing his paper, Hawking, just 32 years old, was named a fellow of the prestigious Royal Society. He briefly taught at the California Institute of Technology before assuming the position of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, a post dating back more than 400 years that was once held by Isaac Newton. 
Though Hawking’s family life flourished during this time ― he and Jane Hawking went on to have two more children ― his health did not. He reluctantly started using a wheelchair in 1969, and by the mid-70s, he could no longer feed or clothe himself.
 
Stephen Hawking on a trip to Cape Finisterre in Spain in 2008. The scientist married and divorced twice and had three children. (MIGUEL RIOPA/Getty Images)

In 1985, Hawking contracted pneumonia while on a trip to Switzerland. Doctors performed a tracheotomy that allowed him to breathe but rendered him unable to speak naturally. At first, he communicated using word cards, which was agonizingly slow. But in 1986, computer scientist Walter Woltosz gave him a device that would vocalize words he typed using a joystick. Hawking called this system, which has since been upgraded several times, “The Computer.” Its electronic voice was an integral part of the physicist’s public image.

Hawking first came up with the idea of writing a book about cosmology for a general audience in 1982. He said he conceived of the project to “earn money to pay [his] daughter’s school fees.” The first draft of A Brief History of Time was finished in 1984, but Hawking’s publisher felt it was too difficult for laypeople to understand, so he went back to work. The revision process became more complicated after Hawking lost his voice in 1985, but he managed to publish the book in 1988. 
It was a massive hit: The book was on The New York Times’ best-seller list for three years and The Sunday Times’ U.K. best-seller list for nearly five. Its publication propelled Hawking to international fame that’s endured to this day. He published five additional general-audience books on science, plus one memoir and four children’s books. He also guest-starred on both “The Simpsons” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” 
At age 74, Stephen Hawking sits onstage during an announcement of the Breakthrough Starshot initiative with investor Yuri Milner in New York on April 12, 2016. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

Stephen and Jane Hawking separated after several years of tension in 1990, which Jane said was exacerbated by her husband’s newfound “fame and fortune.” The physicist began a relationship with Elaine Mason, one of his nurses. After his divorce from Jane Hawking, he married Mason in 1995.

Hawking and his ex-wife did not speak for several years, but they started communicating again after he and Mason got divorced in 2007. Stephen and Jane Hawking later began living around the corner from one another in Cambridge.
In 2011, Hawking appeared on the Discovery Channel TV series “Curiosity,” in which he reflected on the origins of the universe and rejected the likelihood of both a God and an afterlife. (He once dismissed the latter as “a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”) Only in confronting the finite nature of death, he said, do we appreciate the remarkable beauty of life in the present.
“There is probably no heaven, and no afterlife either,” Hawking said. “We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe, and for that, I am extremely grateful.”
In addition to his two former wives, Hawking is survived by three children and three grandchildren. 
·       This article originally appeared on HuffPost.


Tuesday 13 March 2018

Great! Doctor Delivers Then Delivered Her Patient's Twins


a couple of people posing for the camera
© Courtesy Hilary Conway “I was very saddened to think I might not be there to deliver her. My due date was one month prior to hers,” Conway recalls. “At our last clinic visit before my scheduled induction of labour on Dec. 12, 2017, we both expressed sadness that I would likely not be there for the delivery.

An obstetrician, who didn’t want to miss out on the birth of her patient’s twins, stepped in to help deliver them just hours after she gave birth to her own baby.

Hilary Conway, an Obstetrics and Gynecologist at Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic in Washington, gave birth to her second child—Verna Pearson—on the afternoon Dec. 12. 2017 While Conway was resting in her hospital room later that night, she received a text from her patient, Katie Moss, announcing she was in labour.

© Courtesy Hilary Conway As for Verna, Conway says she is doing great post-delivery and is filling out her onesies more and more every day. While looking back on that flurry of events, Conway insists it wasn’t as hectic as it seems. If she’s impressed with anything, it’s with her patient and the hospital staff who helped pull off the successful deliveries.

Conway didn’t see the text until past midnight, so she checked the nurse’s station to see if Moss had been admitted—that’s when she found out that not only had her patient arrived, but she was in the room right next door to hers. Conway—who had been worried about missing her chance to welcome the twins into the world—immediately walked in to give her support to Moss.

From living in a car to living within a community's embrace: Imagine living with your four-month-old baby and two-year-old toddler in a beat-up old car because you've lost your home—and every other option. That's what happened to Raijene Mallory, a young, single mom, from Richmond, Virginia. The 22-year-old was put out of her home, along with her two children, and needed a place to live while she got on her feet. With every shelter in the area full, Mallory and her children were spending their nights parked in hospital parking lots, where police were nearby and she felt moderately safe. The young family's story was reported on a <a href='http://www.nbc12.com/story/34250169/homeless-family-shown-outpouring-of-love-help-from-community'>local news station</a>, and within two days, the community pitched in to help. A property owner gave them a rent-free, fully-renovated two-bedroom apartment, and other community members showed up with offers of employment, day care, counseling, and clothes. Check out more <a href='https://www.rd.com/culture/random-acts-of-kindness-that-changed-lives/1'>random acts of kindness that changed people's lives.</a>
Since her patient was only a stone’s throw away, Conway knew there was no way she could miss the big moment. After feeding her newborn and leaving her in the care of a staffer, Conway prepped for the delivery and took over ultrasound duties. The Moss twins arrived during the early morning hours of Dec. 13, 2017—Luke at 4:50 a.m. and Soren at 5:38 a.m.—just 14 hours after Conway gave birth to little Verna.

“It was awesome to be there for the delivery, it’s always a bummer to miss them. Being a healthcare provider is such a huge privilege. Patients trust us with so much, and in OB-GYN, this is magnified,” Conway says. “As doctor and patient, we go through so much together during the pregnancy, it’s a huge disappointment to miss the delivery. So, as soon as I realized that delivering Katie was feasible, I was beyond thrilled for the privilege of being there.”

The Conway's at Christmas


This story was first posted by People.com - Jason Duaine Hahn posted it.

Unbelievable Her Grandmother is Her Flower Girl.


When I was planning my wedding, I knew exactly who I wanted to be my flower girl. I love my younger cousins, but I chose a woman who has been married for over 50 years, raised four kids, and cared for 11 grandkids and eight great-grandkids­. I chose Margie Miller, my grandmother.

What a legacy Maw Maw has given us. She’s a one-of-a-kind, special edition woman who can sew, cook, clean, garden, farm, feed chickens, chase children, and smile at the same time. I wanted that strong, faithful woman to lead me down the aisle at my wedding.


She didn’t believe me when I asked her to be my flower girl! My husband-to-be, Chris, loves his grandparents as much as I love mine, so I asked his granny, Patsy Chatham, to be a flower girl, too.


We didn’t tell the guests about our surprise. When Maw Maw and Granny came down the aisle tossing petals, they shocked a lot of people. But I think everyone fell in love with them. How could they not? Margie and Patsy were so cute as flower girls.


Of course, our wedding wasn’t a typical one. The bridal party was small—in addition to the flower girls, my aunt was the matron of honour and Chris’ father was the best man.


The Way This Couple Incorporated All Their Loved Ones in Their Wedding Is So Beautiful The ceremony was held outdoors, and our friends supplied the music.


After the ceremony, we released 'I do' balloons and danced down the aisle to the song 'Good Day for Marrying You.' After enjoying tons of candy and southern food, Chris and I rode away on a bicycle built for two as guests held sparklers.


It was all great fun, but what made our wedding special was the people who helped make Chris and me who we are. When my brother and I were kids, we hung out with our grandparents while our parents worked. Maw Maw let me cook with her and taught me how to play the piano. We went camping and talked for hours. And she was there for me when I was diagnosed with childhood cancer at age 12.


Today, we are still close. Maw Maw and I live about 15 minutes from each other and love to go antique shopping and exploring our home state of Mississippi.
Growing up, it’s easy to idolize the adults you love. They are bigger than life, stronger than nails and tougher than any car on the market. However, you slowly see that the house you once thought was so big is actually smaller than you remembered, and the hand that gripped yours in support, though still strong, is becoming arthritic.


The family is the most important thing, and I was so pleased to have them by my side at our wedding. But I’m even more pleased that I have them every day after.




Amazon. Com - Star Wars