Who knew....

that spending and afternoon with your husband in a hunting blind would yield such long-term and amazing results?

To set the stage, when Josh and I first met I was a vegetarian, wanna-be hippie from Chicago and he was a mountain-holler, huntin', hillbilly from West Virginia. I grew up knowing almost NO ONE that hunted, so he really seemed like kind of a freak to me with his weird, red-necky hobby. Not to mention a cruel and gross hobby, too! (In my opinion, anyway)

After 10 years of rolling my eyes and (in truth) having many arguments over this obsessive hobby, I finally caved in and went hunting with him driven by my desire to have a few moments alone while we were in WV. Christmas Day was the day and we headed out to his mom's property with an abandoned log cabin on it. Josh had a hunting blind set up in the front yard. You can see the blind in the right side of the picture right next to that tall pole.
After only about 45 minutes or so of us hanging out, holding hands, and whispering sweet nothings, a doe walked right up to our blind! Josh asked me if I wanted to shoot it. I vehemently declined. Then, it was incredible how fast Josh had his gun aimed and pulled the trigger! The deer ran about 30 yards or so and fell down immediately in the woods. I even sat and watched him gut the deer. Yuck! Ewww! Yuck! Ewwww! Ewww!

So...the AMAZING part of all of this is that Josh has been more attentive to my needs and emotions than he ever has been in 10 years of being together! He began calling me "my buddy" and "my friend." He told me that he wants to grow closer and closer to me each day, do anything he can to meet my needs, and be BEST friends. He's even patiently listened to my crazy musings about new studies that come out saying that so-and-so is bad for you and you should do so-and-so to prevent so-and-so. I know what a psycho I sound like sometimes when it comes to that stuff. But, I can't help that I like it. It's part of who I am. He used to cut me off and roll his eyes and say he didn't want to hear it. Now, he's actually LISTENING to me because he knows it's what I'm into and what's important to me. WOW. All I can say is, "WOW!"

He's had his first day off today since we've been back from Christmas vacation and he helped me clean the house and has already accomplished a few things on my "honey-do" list. And he's done this with a happy heart! Oh...this is SO my love language. Acts of service make me melt.

So the valuable lesson I've learned is this: no matter how much your husband's "thing" might annoy you, if you go ahead and do it with him it will be worth it in the long run for your relationship. I think there were some wise women who told me this a long time ago, but I was too young and stupid to listen. Even though I'm not that into it, I will go hunting a hundred more times with Josh to make him feel like I'm his "buddy." It's totally, 1000% worth it!!!!