Enjoy every moment in life and never take anything for granted. The weekend in Kentucky at the National Youth Leadership Conference (NYLC) was memorable for many reasons, but I had a few special moments that stick out to me the most.

I was tasked with thanking Dr. Brett Kaysen, dairy production specialist with Zoetis, after his talk on Sunday, near the end of the conference. I began by thanking him, and then, since he was our last speaker, I trailed off into talking about my view of the weekend. I spoke specifically about three talks we had. The first was Brian Arnold’s (known by many as Arnie). I spoke about how awesome it was to be able to listen to him speak to us on Friday, because he is a mentor of mine, and more importantly, someone I consider a friend. We share a love of many of the same things, including sports and Cracker Barrel! Next was Warren Beeler; his talk was fantastic! I found it very cool that one of the top men in Kentucky agriculture could talk to us on such a very personal level about of his time in the industry. He is one of the all-time greats within the showpig industry. Lastly, was Dr. Kaysen’s talk. His talk was quite possibly one of the very best I’ve ever heard. He discussed the Cowboy Code of Ethics and related each one to specific individuals. I was taken aback and very honored when I was one of those individuals he recognized. I’m not an emotional person at all; a flatliner some may say. During his talk, I experienced happiness, sadness and excitement. It was crazy good on so many levels!

This was my last conference as an NJSA member and Junior Board Director. This was my favorite by far, because knowing this was my last, I enjoyed every moment, even the moment when I had to wake up Devin and Kane at 6 a.m. to start the shower for me. I’ll always remember the moment I went to room 459 instead of room 359 and woke up that poor old lady so early in the morning because I had the room numbers confused. Sorry, ma’am, wherever and whoever you are! Or the moments that every time Arnie and I passed each other one of us would give the other an update on the Masters leaderboard. Most important, the moment reality hit us as board members, and we realized this was one of our last hoorahs together. Like I told Devin on his Facebook post, we’re not quite done yet so here is to a great Expo and NJSS!