“Travel is little beds and cramped bathrooms. It’s old television sets and slow Internet connections. Travel is extraordinary conversations with ordinary people. It’s waiters, gas station attendants, and housekeepers becoming the most interesting people in the world. It’s churches that are compelling enough to enter. It’s McDonald’s being a luxury. It’s the realization that you may have been born in the wrong country. Travel is a smile that leads to a conversation in broken English. It’s the epiphany that pretty girls smile the same way all over the world. Travel is tipping 10% and being embraced for it. Travel is the same white T-shirt again tomorrow. Travel is accented sex after good wine and too many unfiltered cigarettes. Travel is flowing in the back of a bus with giggly strangers. It’s a street full of bearded backpackers looking down at maps. Travel is wishing for one more bite of whatever that just was. It’s the rediscovery of walking somewhere. It’s sharing a bottle of liquor on an overnight train with a new friend. Travel is “Maybe I don’t have to do it that way when I get back home.” It’s nostalgia for studying abroad that one semester. Travel is realizing that “age thirty” should be shed of its goddamn stigma.”
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“It's interesting that in the Bible, in the book of Ecclesiastes, the only practical advice given about living a meaningful life is to find a job you like, enjoy your marriage, and obey God. It's as though God is saying, Write a good story, take somebody with you, and let me help.”
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“My life will be the best illustration of all my work.”
― The Fairy Tale of My Life: An Autobiography
― The Fairy Tale of My Life: An Autobiography
“If my words don't flow out of a heart that rests in God's control, sovereignty, then they come out of the heart that seeks control so I can get what I want.”
― Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together
― Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together
“I think life is staggering and we're just too used to it.”
― A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
― A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
Stephanie’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Stephanie’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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