I'm Full of BS!

Blue Ridge Spirit that is…

As soon as I get caught up I get behind again!  Oh well.. that’s how life goes sometimes!  Never fear faithful readers (where is that sarcasm font when you need it?), I shall get you caught up with my adventures!  The first one we shall tackle is…

CONA
a.k.a.
‘Conference on National Affairs’
a.k.a.
‘The Hella Awesome, Best Week Ever, Conference that the YMCA Youth in Government holds every summer at the Blue Ridge Assembly in North Carolina’

(I hope you read that last bit really fast… Its more funny that way…)

CONA is the conference that I went to every summer while in high school.   Since I am still involved in Y-Club through College Alumni Staff, and because I’m awesome, I was invited to go back as an advisor this year. 

Truth be told, CONA quite a nerd fest.  It is basically a national mock congress.  Students write proposals, present them, debate them, and try to get them passed.  It is also one of the most inspiring places in the world for me.  CONA is held the same week each year—July 4^th week.  Since I went there every summer, I don’t really have any deep rooted family traditions for July 4^th.  It wasn’t until this year that I realized that CONA is my July 4^th tradition.  CONA—A place where students from around the country come together and propose their ideas to try and fix our nation’s problems. A place where 500+ kids, despite political ideologies and religious beliefs, join hands and sing God Bless America.  What could be more patriotic than that?  

(Please don’t say fireworks. I hate fireworks--they go boom!)

I feel like this is realization is extremely timely and significant for me.  I am about to move to another country.  My 'gypsy soul' (thanks Zac Brown) wants to see the world and experience different cultures, but I feel as though I could very easily lose sight of my American patriotism.  I don’t mean my annoying American abroad, ‘I must eat McDonalds and drink Coke,’ patriotism, but simply a love and devotion to my country.  These are the kind of revelations that this view will cause..

Eureka!  I found it!

And just on the off chance that my CONA kids are reading this..  We will have to play some Purity Ball at YA after we have a discussion about aquaculture.  Taylor, keep that swan a swimming!  I love and will miss y’all terribly!