Guest Post from Anne Elliot (the heroine in Jane Austen's Persuasion)

Yay our first guest post! Thanks Anne. Keep it coming...

From Anne:
About five years ago, a super-chic, super-cool woman a couple years older than me moved into my Midwestern ward. She was so glamorous, introduced me to Sephora and In Style Magazine, and convinced me that every year, we needed to attend at least one Single Adult activity. I had no problem going with her, because she made everything an adventure. Even when the activities featured dozens of women and 3 men. Then she moved. But I continued her challenge, considering it to be an offering on the altar of "please-don't-let-me-die-alone."

Well, these Single Adult activities usually leave me frustrated, sometimes in tears, and it gets more difficult to gird up my loins to attend them solo. There's one coming up next weekend, and I'm still on the fence about making an appearance. I can't make it to the keynote (Julie Beck!) because we are rehearsing for the Primary program, and I am the pianist. But I could make it for the workshops and—gulp—the dance.

I've been feeling like I need to make my yearly offering (it is October, after all), but I'm not sure I have the emotional strength for a conference. So when a friend asked if I'd be interested in "just emailing" someone she knew, I said sure...and let his email address sit in my inbox for a couple of days. He had my email too, and why should I be the one to write first? Wasn't that a little desperate? But then I weighed my options: attend the conference, or send an email. I sent an email.

I don't know if it will go anywhere—long distance, email-ish things have not been kind to me—but it is this year's offering. I am willing to do something, to not just wait for Heavenly Father to FedEx a decent guy to my doorstep. I took action. Again. The next step is taking more than one action a year. Hard to do in the Midwest, but is it any harder than parting the Red Sea or sending seagulls to eat up crickets? Probably not.