Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - May 13, 2021


Ep 420 ｜ Why Do I Vote Republican？ ｜ Q&A


Episode Stats

Length

31 minutes

Words per Minute

186.17776

Word Count

5,861

Sentence Count

398

Misogynist Sentences

6

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable, another Q&A episode today.
00:00:12.600 Today we have some less deep questions.
00:00:16.100 Typically I only get through like three kind of deep or theological, political questions,
00:00:21.820 but today you guys asked me a lot of fun questions, some serious questions too.
00:00:25.740 So it's still going to be a good use of your time to listen to this episode, but I'll also
00:00:29.820 answer some fun questions that you guys have.
00:00:32.820 As always, if you love this podcast, if it has meant anything to you, if it has helped
00:00:36.500 you in any way, I would love for you to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts.
00:00:41.760 It would mean a lot to us.
00:00:42.940 And if you haven't subscribed to my YouTube channel already, then please do that.
00:00:48.060 The video version of these episodes comes out between about five to six central time.
00:00:54.200 And a lot of you, I love when you put on your Instagram stories that you like have me up
00:01:00.240 on the television while you're cleaning or something like that.
00:01:03.020 Like you're watching a TV show.
00:01:04.900 I, my husband actually had that pulled up the other day.
00:01:08.300 I was coming in from the garage and I was like, whose voice is that?
00:01:12.640 It was mine.
00:01:13.920 I was up on the TV.
00:01:15.000 I don't like watching myself.
00:01:16.420 I, when I, I do listen to every podcast episode that I do, but I listened to it on two times.
00:01:22.560 And I know a lot of you think that I talk so quickly, but when I go back to just regular,
00:01:27.780 when I listened to it, like on regular speed, I'm like, oh my gosh, I sound inebriated.
00:01:33.020 Like I cannot listen to myself on regular speed.
00:01:35.940 I think I sound super slow, but depending on your age and depending on your preference,
00:01:42.060 you probably think that I talk quickly.
00:01:44.840 It actually is very much by age that I get that feedback.
00:01:49.800 Typically people that are my age have no problem with how quickly I speak the cadence or the
00:01:55.000 tone or anything, but you'll get older people whom I love, by the way, I don't, I don't
00:01:58.740 mind this critique at all.
00:02:00.480 And I don't mind your opinions on this.
00:02:02.860 And I love that.
00:02:03.420 I have older people that listen to this show who tell me, Hey, you talk too quickly or you
00:02:09.660 sound like a millennial and how you inflect your words and inflect your sentences.
00:02:16.720 That's true.
00:02:17.860 I don't think it's nearly as strong as some older commenters say that it is actually when
00:02:26.040 I listened to myself versus when I listened to other millennials, but I do definitely have,
00:02:30.260 you know, that classic millennial girl kind of like upswing at the end of sentences.
00:02:36.500 Sometimes I'll work on it, but it's so funny that those of you who are my age, most of you
00:02:41.920 don't notice it.
00:02:43.820 But anyway, it's okay, guys, this is a millennial show.
00:02:47.140 I am squarely a millennial.
00:02:48.620 I was born in 1992, which is right in the millennial, the middle of millennialism.
00:02:53.980 And so, like I said, if you love this podcast, even if you think that my inflection at the
00:02:59.100 end of the sentences is too millennial for you, please leave a five-star review on Apple
00:03:03.700 podcasts.
00:03:04.220 That would mean a lot to me.
00:03:04.940 All right, let's get into some of these questions.
00:03:07.000 Backstreet Boys or NSYNC?
00:03:08.180 This is the easiest question that I've ever been asked in my life.
00:03:10.740 Obviously, Backstreet Boys.
00:03:12.400 Like, that's not even a question.
00:03:14.760 Like, this is like, do I want to be on the right side of history or wrong side of history?
00:03:18.460 It's obviously the Backstreet Boys.
00:03:20.760 And I was probably the Backstreet Boys' biggest fan growing up, like very intensely into the
00:03:28.460 Backstreet Boys.
00:03:28.960 I'm talking probably like second to fourth grade or something like that were probably
00:03:34.920 the biggest years for me as far as my Backstreet Boys fandom.
00:03:40.740 Now, I was never allowed to go to one of their concerts.
00:03:43.300 I really wasn't allowed to go to concerts in general.
00:03:45.220 But I remember thinking about what I would wear if I did go to a Backstreet Boys concert
00:03:49.980 and like, would I want to look cute?
00:03:51.940 So like, they would probably, you know, like, would they notice me or would I want to wear
00:03:57.080 like a Backstreet Boys shirt to show that I'm a really big fan?
00:04:01.000 These are the things that eight-year-old Allie would think about when I was listening to the
00:04:04.140 Millennium album in our living room and crying about the fact that maybe I might never meet
00:04:10.700 Nick Carter.
00:04:11.920 Like, that possibility to me was so astounding and so disturbing to my eight-year-old self
00:04:18.880 that maybe I would never meet the Backstreet Boys, that I was legitimately very sad about
00:04:25.120 it.
00:04:25.620 Loved the Backstreet Boys.
00:04:27.420 I remember when one of their, was it actually, I don't remember if it was one of their albums
00:04:31.660 or an NSYNC album.
00:04:32.820 Because I still, you know, I liked NSYNC because everyone listened to NSYNC, but I just
00:04:36.020 wasn't their number one fan.
00:04:38.500 I think it was an NSYNC album and it said the D word in it.
00:04:42.560 And of course, like back then, like you got the CDs and the front pamphlet typically had
00:04:47.960 the lyrics in them.
00:04:49.020 And my parents, of course, my mom would read the lyrics before she decided whether or not
00:04:53.660 I could listen to the CD, which I appreciate now.
00:04:56.120 I probably didn't then.
00:04:57.560 And I remember, I remember her showing me that one of the songs says the D word in it.
00:05:05.100 And I was like, I didn't know that it said that.
00:05:07.600 I'm probably like in third grade at this point.
00:05:09.680 And so I wasn't, I was also not allowed to listen to Christina Aguilera.
00:05:13.180 I wasn't allowed to listen to Britney Spears growing up, which I, I'm, I'm sorry.
00:05:17.000 I know there are a lot of Britney Spears stans out there.
00:05:18.980 I don't feel like I miss out on a whole lot.
00:05:20.620 Plus I still knew all the songs like Disney Channel used to have music videos and they
00:05:25.220 would play Britney Spears, which now looking back, totally inappropriate.
00:05:29.620 They would play Christina Aguilera.
00:05:31.260 They would play Backstreet Boys and all of that.
00:05:33.860 They came on like the, the Disney, uh, the, the Disney radio station.
00:05:38.940 There were like kids bops.
00:05:40.140 And so there were ways that I probably listened to Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, but
00:05:44.700 I wasn't actually allowed to buy their albums because my parents were right about this.
00:05:51.020 What they represented was not in their appearance and how they dress.
00:05:56.060 And, you know, some of the things they sang about probably wasn't appropriate for an eight
00:06:00.320 to 10 year old.
00:06:01.020 And then after that, I just wasn't interested in it anymore.
00:06:03.620 And so I was jamming out to like, do you, do you guys remember jump five, jump five was
00:06:09.040 a Christian band for a little bit there.
00:06:10.780 So I was jamming out to some jump five when I was in third grade, when I wasn't listening
00:06:14.500 to the Backstreet Boys, Zoe girl.
00:06:17.900 I've had a member of Zoe girl on this podcast, you know, Elisa Childers.
00:06:22.940 Now she's an apologist, but Zoe girl.
00:06:26.740 So all those like Christian bands that you guys rocked out to, probably if you were raised
00:06:31.680 in the church, especially if you were a Baptist, I did too.
00:06:36.240 But Backstreet Boys were my number one.
00:06:38.540 I had a Backstreet Boys nightgown.
00:06:40.420 I had Backstreet Boys posters on my wall.
00:06:43.880 I actually had to take down the poster of Brian because it freaked me out.
00:06:50.800 I remember that, um, like, you know how posters, they follow you wherever you go, like their
00:06:57.220 eyes follow you.
00:06:58.320 And for whatever reason, his poster, I remember being eight years old.
00:07:01.680 I was like, that's, I can't, I can't deal with that.
00:07:04.120 Plus I liked Nick Carter way better.
00:07:06.200 So Backstreet Boys versus NSYNC, definitely Backstreet Boys.
00:07:10.320 I would still say that.
00:07:11.780 I would still say that they have better songs than NSYNC.
00:07:15.640 And I will fight you on this.
00:07:17.040 This is a primary worldview issue.
00:07:20.800 And if you're wrong on this, then you are on the wrong side of the universe.
00:07:27.800 And I will not apologize for saying so.
00:07:30.020 All right.
00:07:30.440 Next question.
00:07:32.240 Um, what made you a Republican?
00:07:35.420 Well, to be honest, also to hearken back to like eight year old Allie, the first election
00:07:39.900 that I remember was the election of George Bush versus Al Gore.
00:07:43.660 And I wanted to stay up all night to make sure that George Bush won.
00:07:46.840 My parents are Republicans.
00:07:48.780 As far as I know, they've always been a, they've always been Republicans.
00:07:52.400 Although I do think that my mom said that she may have been a fan at one point of Jimmy,
00:07:57.620 of Jimmy Carter, because I think he is from Alabama and he was like, sorry, Arkansas, a
00:08:03.660 Christian from Arkansas.
00:08:04.720 My mom is from Arkansas.
00:08:06.460 If my mom's listening to this and she's like, that's not true.
00:08:09.140 I'm sorry.
00:08:09.700 I'm not trying to lie.
00:08:10.780 But I thought I remember my mom saying that at one point she thought she was a fan of Jimmy
00:08:14.180 Carter, but I'm pretty sure that my parents have always been Republican.
00:08:17.940 Now, I don't really care about the Republican Party, to be honest.
00:08:21.120 Like, I just don't.
00:08:23.380 I am a conservative.
00:08:25.180 My parents always taught me conservative values, not because they taught me that it is important
00:08:30.460 to be a Republican necessarily.
00:08:32.200 I don't really remember having those political conversations around the dinner table.
00:08:35.780 But because of all the values that they taught me from an early age, just aligned with conservatism.
00:08:41.600 A great love for our country.
00:08:43.460 The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite days of the year, if not my favorite
00:08:49.280 day of the year.
00:08:50.080 I love the 4th of July.
00:08:51.440 I've always loved this country.
00:08:53.600 Like, I've always just understood.
00:08:55.140 And I don't remember my parents overtly, you know, drilling this into my head.
00:08:59.380 I've just always understood how incredibly blessed and privileged we are to live in the United
00:09:04.160 States of America.
00:09:04.940 Like, I've always just known that it's the greatest country on Earth because not necessarily,
00:09:11.520 you know, I'm not saying that our people are inherently better.
00:09:15.880 Other countries aren't great.
00:09:16.900 But the ideas and ideals upon which we were founded are the greatest founding ideas and
00:09:22.960 ideals that have ever existed in human history for a country.
00:09:27.360 And so, and I've just always understood that there are immense blessings that flow from
00:09:31.040 the sheer fact of being an American.
00:09:35.160 And also, my parents were entrepreneurs.
00:09:37.640 And they came from very poor backgrounds.
00:09:41.560 Their parents were not wealthy.
00:09:44.960 My grandmother on my dad's side came from a very poor background.
00:09:48.680 And she worked very hard to be the first one in her family to graduate from high school
00:09:53.120 and then from college and then got her master's while she was working during the day.
00:09:58.500 And she became a teacher.
00:10:00.120 And she worked very hard to give a life, not just to her kids, but also to herself that
00:10:06.140 her parents could not give her.
00:10:09.260 I mean, she had a great upbringing, but she was raised on a farm in Louisiana.
00:10:12.560 They were very poor and she worked very hard to do things that no one in her family had
00:10:17.580 ever done.
00:10:18.140 Certainly no woman had ever done.
00:10:19.740 I think she passed down that work ethic to my dad.
00:10:22.780 They were not wealthy by any means growing up.
00:10:25.820 He had to start work when he was a teenager and he became independent very quickly.
00:10:30.680 My mom, you know, also really appreciates her parents' hard work, but they didn't come from
00:10:36.340 a lot of money.
00:10:37.100 And then my parents, when they got married, they were dedicated and committed to making sure
00:10:41.660 that they used whatever resources God gave them to make sure that we, my brothers and
00:10:46.220 me, had a better life than they did.
00:10:49.560 And so them coming from very little to try to, for the sake of their children, for the
00:10:55.200 sake of glorifying God and stewarding the resources and the blessings that they have, what little
00:10:59.660 resources those were, they did.
00:11:02.720 They cultivated and created a better life for their kids through hard work and through
00:11:08.040 responsibility and through grit.
00:11:09.460 They'd probably say that they made a lot of mistakes and they certainly had a lot of
00:11:13.360 obstacles in the way, but I think their story very much, very much influenced me and gave
00:11:20.780 me a very positive perspective of what the American dream is and can be from living in
00:11:26.700 a roach infested trailer to being successful entrepreneurs and, and business people.
00:11:32.720 Um, I think I always understood that that is a dream that is only possible really can only
00:11:39.980 probably, um, in a very probable way come to fruition in the United States and freedom
00:11:47.060 and flexibility, especially when it comes to work and the things I wanted to pursue in
00:11:51.420 life has always been important to me.
00:11:54.080 I think that entrepreneurial spirit that was passed down from my parents also, um, just,
00:12:00.920 uh, I don't know that that was a conservative value.
00:12:04.400 The idea that I want the government as far out of my life as possible.
00:12:09.260 And I want the freedom and the flexibility to make my own decisions and to make something
00:12:13.400 for myself by the grace of God in the same way that my parents did.
00:12:16.900 I mean, that just pointed me in a conservative direction and I never had a stage in my life
00:12:22.940 where I was liberal.
00:12:24.100 I never had a stage in my life where I was like, you know what, maybe there is something
00:12:28.320 to leftism.
00:12:30.220 Now, like all high schoolers and college students, there are times that you question the things
00:12:34.920 that your parents tell you and you think that you know better.
00:12:38.020 And I'm sure there were times when maybe I thought it was like, maybe I thought that I was
00:12:43.400 like a feminist before I knew really what feminism was, or like, maybe there was a time when I
00:12:48.840 thought certain like moral or social issues were okay.
00:12:52.160 And certainly like questioning things theologically, probably when I was in high school.
00:12:57.700 But as far as being like, Hey, I'm a leftist.
00:13:00.760 I want big government.
00:13:02.740 Socialism's cool or abortions.
00:13:05.260 Fine.
00:13:06.160 I never, I never went through that.
00:13:08.040 I think part of it is also personality.
00:13:10.060 I think personality, not just upbringing, has a lot to do, has a lot to do with how you
00:13:17.240 politically lean.
00:13:18.880 Not always, but it can.
00:13:20.720 And I've talked about this before.
00:13:22.100 I just had, I've always had a skepticism towards authority.
00:13:27.600 I don't like bureaucracy.
00:13:29.980 I don't like collectivism in any sense.
00:13:32.720 I really value individuality.
00:13:34.860 I really value independence.
00:13:36.760 I really value, like I said, flexibility and freedom.
00:13:40.240 And I don't like self-important people who claim to have some authority over your life
00:13:45.400 simply because they hold a title.
00:13:47.440 And that to me is what so much of bureaucracy represents.
00:13:51.260 And so there's just nothing that is, there's nothing that appeals to me from leftism and in
00:13:59.520 particular, the Democratic Party.
00:14:00.980 And that has only grown the older that I've gotten.
00:14:04.880 As I see, I think the destruction that has been wrought by the Democratic Party, and by
00:14:09.080 the way, has been aided and abetted by a lot of tepid Republicans.
00:14:15.500 And like I said, like, I don't, I'm not like, oh, yes, I'm GOP stan.
00:14:20.620 Republicans can do nothing wrong.
00:14:21.940 I have no problem with criticizing Republicans.
00:14:24.720 I would have no problem if one day I'm like, you know what?
00:14:27.060 I can't vote Republican anymore.
00:14:28.460 I don't, I don't feel any like allegiance to the Republican Party.
00:14:32.000 So when people ask me, are you going to run for office one day?
00:14:35.540 No, that sounds super boring to me.
00:14:38.480 I don't have any desire to run for office.
00:14:40.920 I don't have any like inherent fidelity to the Republican Party, except that they best
00:14:46.300 represent the conservative values that I hold, that I truly believe that I was raised
00:14:50.660 in.
00:14:50.940 Now, obviously, you guys know that's not my full answer for why I'm a Republican or why
00:14:55.720 I'm a conservative.
00:14:56.300 I mean, you can just listen to the past three years of my podcast to get the most thorough
00:15:01.880 answer on that.
00:15:02.760 Why theologically, why biblically, why politically, why practically I tend, I do vote Republican
00:15:10.360 and why I'm a conservative.
00:15:13.480 It does also go back to the fundamental idea that God gives us our rights, that he's our
00:15:18.440 ultimate authority, and therefore the government does not have a right.
00:15:21.640 It doesn't give us our rights, and so they do not have a right to just arbitrarily take
00:15:27.120 them away.
00:15:27.980 The idea that we were created by a creator and endowed by our creator with certain unalienable
00:15:34.440 rights that the government just has no authority to mess with, that is the fundamental conservative
00:15:40.400 idea that I unfortunately see a lot of people who identify as conservatives think is just like
00:15:45.520 not that important, like, oh, faith and believing in God and morality, all that stuff, that's
00:15:50.680 not important to conservatism.
00:15:52.200 That's essential to conservatism.
00:15:54.020 That's not to mean that you can't be a professing atheist and not see the practical benefits to
00:16:00.820 conservative policy, because certainly I think that's true, or maybe you're just fed up with
00:16:04.740 the wokeism from the left, no matter what your faith is, but the conservative philosophy is
00:16:11.200 absolutely founded on the idea that we were created by a creator. That creator has a higher
00:16:17.160 authority than the government. Progressivism, on the other hand, it is essential to believe that the
00:16:21.740 state is the highest authority, and that is why as much as people try to make progressivism and
00:16:29.560 Christianity congruent, progressivism ends up completely devouring Christianity when it comes
00:16:38.260 to that worldview, because the state has to be supreme. It will not share its glory with another.
00:16:45.580 All right, so that kind of answers that question. Do I think that showing the graphic nature of
00:16:50.920 abortion is polarizing when it comes to pro-life conversations? I think it can be polarizing in the
00:16:58.240 sense that, yeah, it's going to offend people. It's going to gross people out. It isn't always the
00:17:03.460 best tactic, but it can be an effective tactic. I don't think it's wrong for people to show the
00:17:09.460 grotesque reality of abortion just because it's offensive. Abortion is offensive. Abortion is
00:17:15.360 offensive because when you are met with the reality of what abortion is, that abortion is always violent,
00:17:21.640 that abortion is always bloody, that abortion always ends a human life. Now, whether or not you believe
00:17:27.920 that life has value, that is the question that is up to debate. It's not a debate whether or not
00:17:33.600 that's a human being. It's a human being with unique DNA. We're not just talking about the DNA
00:17:38.960 of a strand of hair. We're not just talking about the DNA of sperm. We're talking about a unique DNA
00:17:45.260 that is unique from the mother or the father, a unique combination of cells that only needs time
00:17:52.780 and nourishment to be a full-grown baby. But at conception has a gender, has all of the components
00:18:00.280 of a human being. So that is when human life begins at conception. Anytime after that, if you want to
00:18:08.240 claim that life starts anytime after conception, it all just becomes arbitrary. It all just becomes
00:18:13.360 subjective. And I think human life is too important to be placed in the category of the subjective and the
00:18:19.040 arbitrary when it comes to ascribing value. And so I actually think it's important. And I do that a
00:18:27.220 lot on this podcast. I don't show pictures, but I do talk about what an abortion procedure is,
00:18:33.320 what it entails. Like I said, it's always violent. It's always death. It's always the intentional
00:18:39.740 killing of a defenseless human being. And you can try to euphemize it by saying that, well, no,
00:18:46.860 it's bodily autonomy, or you can say it's nuanced, or you can say it's complicated. And I agree that
00:18:52.580 there are many circumstances, desperate situations, unfortunately, in which women are made to feel
00:18:58.140 like they don't have a choice. And obviously, I believe in all the compassion and care in the world
00:19:03.120 for those women. But does that justify taking the life of a person when they're outside of the womb?
00:19:10.040 Does a desperate situation justify killing a toddler or killing a teenager? Of course not.
00:19:17.740 That's still a life. That's still a human being. So why does merely the location or the age or the
00:19:22.880 size of a baby inside the womb suddenly demand nuance and justification because of someone's
00:19:29.260 circumstances? I just don't think that that's a very good argument. And I do think it's important
00:19:34.460 to talk about, okay, let's talk about what an abortion actually is. Because Planned Parenthood
00:19:39.880 and the left, they don't want you to know that. They don't want you to think about that.
00:19:43.460 They want you to think of it as nothing more consequential than a root canal. It's just a
00:19:48.400 clump of cells that's removed. And when you see that, okay, this little thing, I mean, at like
00:19:53.240 nine weeks gestation is starting to have arms and legs and fingers and toes. By the time you get to
00:19:59.380 11 and a half weeks gestation, what you're looking at on a sonogram is a fully formed tiny baby with
00:20:05.700 arms and legs that are kicking. You see the brain. You see where the teeth are going to come in.
00:20:11.120 I mean, you see a baby. And that's still in the first trimester. And so I think it's important for
00:20:15.560 people to see that. And then what happens to that image bearer, that human being in an abortion? I
00:20:22.620 think that's absolutely crucial to the conversation. And yes, it is offensive because abortion is
00:20:27.700 offensive because killing people, killing innocent people, defenseless people, killing babies
00:20:32.480 should be offensive. And if it's not offensive to you, then again, you have a heart of stone and a
00:20:38.060 brain of mush. And I pray for you. I think there's a right time to bring up what abortion is. I think
00:20:44.460 there's a right time to talk about the graphic nature and reality of abortion. It might not be all
00:20:50.560 the time. It might not be in every situation. I don't think it's in every situation. I think we have
00:20:55.240 to have tact. I think we have to have discernment. But do I think we should never talk about it because
00:21:00.260 it's too polarizing? Abortion is already polarizing. And it is it is what it is. And pro-lifers have to
00:21:08.260 be the ones who are willing to say, hey, because I'm pro-science and because I'm pro-reality,
00:21:14.280 I care about talking about what this procedure actually entails and what it does to an image bearer.
00:21:20.740 So next question, favorite part about my wedding day. Oh, my wedding day was almost six years ago
00:21:36.900 now, which is crazy. It's crazy. It goes by so fast. At the same time, it seems like that was a
00:21:42.940 whole lifetime ago. We lived in a different city in a different state. We had different jobs. Obviously,
00:21:49.400 we didn't have kids. I feel like we've lived so many different stages in the past six years. But
00:21:57.640 my wedding day was wonderful. If I do say so myself, I had an amazing wedding. We only dated
00:22:05.360 for five months and we were engaged for four months. We have told our story in a Q&A a couple of years
00:22:13.940 ago. Yeah, I think it was probably two years ago. Now it's on YouTube. I guess I can link to it in
00:22:19.740 the description of this episode. And so we've answered like how we met and how we knew and all
00:22:26.840 of that stuff. But I was able to plan our wedding really quickly because I just knew it's not that I
00:22:34.660 had been like dreaming and planning necessarily for my wedding day. Although, of course, I thought
00:22:39.060 about it just like every girl, pretty much every girl has. Of course, I thought about it and I knew
00:22:44.360 in general what I wanted. But I'm a pretty simple gal. I've posted pictures of our of our wedding
00:22:51.220 before. And so if you follow me, you know what it looks like on Instagram. But I'm a I'm a pretty
00:22:55.860 simple person. I don't like, you know, I'm not glitter, glitzy, like shiny, anything like that.
00:23:06.500 I like things. I've always liked things to be plain. I don't like patterns. I like things that
00:23:13.200 are very classic. And so that's what our wedding was. We got married outside in Athens, Georgia,
00:23:19.660 and it really was just beautiful. And there wasn't a whole lot of decor that was needed,
00:23:24.400 at least in the ceremony, because the venue was was beautiful. And yeah, so was so was the reception.
00:23:32.180 I guess one of my favorite parts was the cake. We had really good cake from a place called Cecilia's
00:23:37.320 in Athens, Georgia. We had like a three tiered cake and we also had cookies from insomnia.
00:23:42.460 And we fun fact, we took a picture with like cookies and milk because we also had these little
00:23:46.960 personalized cups like with our name on it and with like our wedding date and stuff. And like there was
00:23:52.800 milk and cookies. And we took a picture with the milk and cookies. And I had to pretend like I was
00:23:56.720 like drinking the milk. I hate milk. I've hated milk. Another fun fact about me, I've hated milk since I was
00:24:01.140 a baby. Like my mom never was able to get me to drink milk. I hate the taste of milk. It tastes
00:24:07.660 sour. I hate the smell of milk. So I had to pretend like I was drinking milk on my wedding day just for
00:24:13.420 the the fun of it. But I don't like milk. But we had a ton of good desserts. And also we had a cake
00:24:21.600 from a place called Brick Street in Greenville, South Carolina. I went to school in Greenville,
00:24:27.000 South Carolina. And Brick Street has really good sweet potato cake and also peanut butter chocolate
00:24:32.560 cake. And so we also had that like we had a ton of cake and cookies and we had really good food.
00:24:37.980 And that was super important to me. One of the important things because I wanted to do I didn't
00:24:43.280 want to do a first look. No problem with first looks that I think most of my friends probably
00:24:47.100 did a first look before the ceremony. I wanted the first time him the first time of him seeing me,
00:24:54.400 I wanted to be when I was walking down the aisle. And I'm really glad that I did that because
00:24:57.940 he like lost it in the best way. He was very much crying during the ceremony when he saw me walk
00:25:07.000 down the aisle. So I'm glad that we did it that way. But that meant that we had to take pictures
00:25:10.700 after the ceremony. And so that means that the guests have to wait. Now, typically, I don't think
00:25:19.320 that's a good idea. Like my I would say my typical personality and propensity would be to say, no,
00:25:24.960 let's do things the most efficient way possible. I don't want people to have to wait in between the
00:25:30.800 ceremony and the reception while we take pictures. But because I wanted that, I didn't want to see him
00:25:36.280 before the ceremony. That's how we had to do it. And so I just made sure that while we were taking
00:25:41.460 pictures, one, that we had already taken pictures with the separate bridal parties that I had taken all the
00:25:46.260 pictures with my bridesmaids, he had taken all the pictures with the groomsmen with separate families.
00:25:50.160 The only pictures that we had left in between the ceremony and the reception were us together and
00:25:55.200 like our families together and things like that. And I also made sure that all of the guests that
00:26:00.160 were waiting at the reception could go ahead and start eating. That's what I didn't want. I did not
00:26:05.360 want people to have to stand up and wait, not have a place to sit and not have things to eat while
00:26:12.780 they were waiting on us to have pictures. So if you are planning your wedding, that is important.
00:26:17.600 Make sure that your guests, if it's hot, that they have a place to go with air conditioning or fans,
00:26:22.720 that they have a place to sit down and that they have sustenance. So they at least had appetizers,
00:26:27.760 if not their dinner, while we were taking pictures. And I was totally fine with that. I know a lot of
00:26:33.600 people like the bride and the groom have to eat first before the rest of the guests. That's not what we
00:26:39.880 did. I didn't want people to be hungry because people get angry when they're hungry and people
00:26:44.420 get angry when they're hot and they don't have a place to sit and it's uncomfortable. I wanted my
00:26:47.760 guests to be comfortable. This is something that we are doing. Yes, it's for us, but it's also for
00:26:52.340 them. And so I just made sure that everyone had really good food that was important to me. Everyone
00:26:57.160 had, you know, they were comfortable and air conditioning and things like that. And then I know this is not
00:27:03.500 really answering the question. This is basically just telling you all about like my wedding ceremony
00:27:07.460 reception and all that. Then my husband and I got to eat like separately. We ate like inside the house
00:27:13.380 that was on the property so we could make sure that we actually tasted the food. Because then when you
00:27:17.320 go into your reception, everyone wants to talk to you and things like that. And so you don't get a
00:27:21.040 chance to eat. And it's very important that you eat on your wedding day. And then I took some advice
00:27:25.460 that someone gave me, which was take a moment, just like a few minutes to stand back and to take it all
00:27:32.460 in. Just like take a mental picture in your mind or else you could so easily be overwhelmed
00:27:37.700 and you don't catch all the memories that you want to catch. You're not going to remember everything
00:27:43.140 from your wedding day. It's just impossible to. But take a few moments if you can throughout the day
00:27:48.200 and just like take those mental snapshots. It kind of reminds me of that scene from the office on Jim
00:27:53.220 and Pam's wedding day. They kind of do the same thing. And make sure also another piece of advice
00:27:58.980 that I got was don't separate from your spouse at the reception. I think that's a great idea.
00:28:04.320 Because then it's possible that you could keep getting caught like with different groups of
00:28:09.340 people, with different family members and conversations. And you don't end up spending
00:28:13.600 the reception with them, which may be for some of you like that's totally fine. That's what you want
00:28:17.420 to do. But we kind of made a rule not to separate from each other. Like we were with each other
00:28:21.480 the whole night. We also had a band. They were really they were really good. And it was just
00:28:27.180 it was really fun. It was really fun. Like I really I look back and I don't have any regrets
00:28:32.760 about my wedding. And I think I would decorate it in the exact same way six years later as I did then.
00:28:41.120 And yeah, but I will say if you're not planning a wedding or if you're not planning a big wedding,
00:28:48.000 maybe like financials just don't allow it. Maybe you don't have the time. Maybe you don't have the
00:28:53.380 ability. Maybe you don't have the family support to have a wedding. The wedding is one day and it's
00:28:58.860 wonderful. But it doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be big. It doesn't have to cost
00:29:04.400 a lot of money. It doesn't have to have all of the bells and the whistles. You don't have to have
00:29:09.120 a ton of guests there. The wedding is one day. The marriage is the rest of your life. And that is
00:29:15.480 what you are committing to. That is what you are called to glorify God in. The wedding can be a
00:29:21.000 wonderful ceremony and a wonderful celebration. And of course, it's important. And it's okay to
00:29:26.800 care about that. And it's okay to be excited about that. But that's just a few hours of your life.
00:29:33.440 Marriage is the rest of your life. And it's far more important. And what matters at the end of the
00:29:38.620 day is that you get married to the person that God has brought into your life to marry. So if things
00:29:45.020 go wrong on your wedding day or you look back and you're like, wow, things really didn't go exactly
00:29:49.680 how I planned or things aren't going to go exactly how I am planning, it looks like. Maybe if you are
00:29:55.480 engaged, the important thing is that you get married. That's the important thing. There are
00:30:02.260 probably things from my wedding day that didn't go perfectly. And I really don't remember them
00:30:07.240 because at the end of the day, as fun as it was, it's very insignificant in the grand scheme of
00:30:13.580 things. What's most important is that you get married. The marriage is what glorifies God. The
00:30:18.520 wedding is maybe icing on the cake if you need it, but it's not necessary. It's not necessary to have
00:30:25.160 a wonderful, joyful, joyful marriage and life, of course. But those are my tips if you are planning
00:30:32.820 a wedding that I recommend. All right. One last quick question. How do I take my coffee? I take
00:30:38.380 my coffee black. I didn't used to. I used to do the sugar and the cream. But then I was on Whole30
00:30:46.100 like when I was in college or something or maybe right after college. And so I stopped using the
00:30:50.780 cream and I started using Stevia. And then I ran out of Stevia one day and I started drinking my
00:30:56.260 coffee black and I haven't gone back since. So yeah, it's probably been seven years of drinking
00:31:01.640 black coffee. And I can't stand to... I usually can't stand to put anything in it. And so you can do
00:31:08.960 it. Like if you're looking for a way to simplify your intake of coffee or to decrease your intake of
00:31:18.940 sugar, a really easy way to do that is to drink your coffee black. It's totally doable, especially
00:31:23.700 if you have the right coffee. All right. That's all I've got for today. Thank you guys so much for
00:31:28.540 listening.