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mommyathome
Start with the (old) quasi-summary. In short, I found, much to my surprise, that there was something in this religion that was speaking to me, so when I set aside my natural aversion to religion and just gave it a try, I found that it seemed like the right place to be. The more time has passed, the more certain of that I am.
People who think it had anything to do with marriage really, really do not know either me or my husband very well. :-)
2. How did your family react to your conversion?
Positively, actually -- which surprised the heck out of me. I had been avoiding telling them for a long time, but finally had to bite the bullet. My father, a cantor in his church, actually had the most positive reaction. He preferred that I believe in something, even if it wasn't what he tried to raise me to believe. The rest of my immediate family pretty much said "whatever works for you". I got some flak from the (very-Catholic) cousins, but we aren't close so I just shrugged it off.
I never directly discussed it with my paternal grandmother (also staunchly Catholic). This is going to sound awful, but she was in her 90s and we thought she might die before it ever became an issue, and it seemed like a kindness in that case to not get her worked up. However, she lived to see us get married (which I'm happy about), so she kind of found out. I assume my parents told her before the wedding invitation with the Hebrew on it arrived.
3. How did you meet your husband?
We met in the SCA, specifically at the weekly dance practice. He had a background in international folk dancing and wandered in one night knowing nothing of the SCA; I was already in the SCA and had gotten pulled into dancing that way. We knew each other casually for many years before we started dating.
4. I notice in your bio that you have 3 cats and no mention of kids. Do
you want children?
Nope. Definitely not.
I'm glad for my friends who are happily raising kids, but neither producing them nor raising them speaks to me in any way. I think my sister got both our shares of maternal instinct. Maybe I'm greedy, maybe I'm lazy, or maybe I'm just squicked by the whole thing; I'm not entirely sure. No, I can't entirely say why pets are ok and (adopted) kids aren't. Ok, pets probably won't cost us our retirement savings the way kids do, but that's not the only reason. The emotional calling just isn't there for kids.
5. I understand that your husband is Israeli? Would you ever consider
moving to Israel, and if so, where?
He was born in Israel and lived there for a few years during childhood (on a kibbutz). He hasn't been back as an adult, though I've told him he needs to take me someday. :-)
I wouldn't rule anything out at this point, but making aliyah seems pretty unlikely. We're comfortable here, our families and friends are here (mostly), it would be quite difficult for me to get a job in my field there, and I in particular am pretty change-averse. So I definitely want to visit, and maybe things would seem very different once that happens, but for now it looks like we're going to stay put. I feel a pretty strong pull to Pittsburgh right now; if absolutely forced to leave the city then pretty much anything would be on the table, but I'm hoping that doesn't happen.
from your "(old) quasi-summary"
This sounds a lot like how my dad became shabbat-observant (he was raised somewhere between un- and anti-observant but definitely Jewish). He started with "let's see if observing shabbat has any noticeable effect", found that it did and that he liked the effect, and kept going from there.
Re: from your "(old) quasi-summary"