Faces of Beauty is really taking off, and it’s ALL thanks to YOU GUYS! I cry tears of joy at every submission and the amazing stories everyone is sharing. If you haven’t submitted yet, please find out how here. Also, be sure to check out Cherise’s post today!
Friday night and yesterday morning/afternoon we went camping for our church‘s marriage retreat, something I was completely stoked about. In the midst of the killer campfire fajitas, keeping an eye out for the notorious roaming bear (!!!), and waking up in the middle of the night to air up the air mattress (again), I had a chance to really sit back and relax with my hubby and 16 of our closest friends.
There were campfires built, tents that were set up, amazing food that was cooked, and tons of laughter.
We all told stories of funny nicknames, first kisses, and craziest places that we’ve made love. And yes I just said ‘made love’ on the blog…it’s marriage people!
But something that made me really sit back and thing about our marriage and what Nate means to me is when we all decided to go around the campfire and talk about what animal our spouse would be and why.
As everyone took their turn I was hearing things like mountain lions, golden retrievers, bears, and other manly animals for the guys. While I could see Nate being represented by all of those animals, I just couldn’t pinpoint exactly which characteristic in an animal I would choose to represent him with. Among other things he’s extremely entrepreneurial, driven, hard-working, protective, and loving. Then it hit me!
“If I could pick any animal for one of Nate’s best characteristics, I would say he’s a duck.”
Enter the roars of laughter and evil eye from my husband. He said, “You better have a good reason for that one sweetie, I can feel the nickname ‘ducky’ coming…”
“Let me finish! When we were growing up, we had a female duck that lived in our neighborhood. I never EVER saw her fly, and she had a highly damaged right wing. The thing is there was always a mallard with her too, always walking with her, laying with her, eating with her. It didn’t matter what the weather was like, he was always there by her side. Nate is the one who knows how ugly my heart can be. He has seen what a selfish, messed up person I am. He has seen me crippled by the lies of disordered eating and the portrayal of women in the media. And yet he’s always been there with me and for me through every storm of life. Nate would be a duck because he’s loyal and loving and has always been there for me.”
Turning to Nate I said, “I love you baby.”
As everyone ooed and ahhhed, Nate squeezed me close to him, kissed me on the head, and said, “Thank you sweetie. I love you too!” Now it was his turn.
“This better be good with all the crap he gave me about calling him a duck!” I thought, staring up at the studly man who is my husband.
“Ummmmmmm…I guess if Heather could be any animal she would be a cute little puppy dog.”
Crickets.
“Why?!” I asked.
“Ummmmmmm, because you like them and think they’re cute and stuff….ummmmmm, I don’t know…” In shock we just proceeded to the next couple while this time I gave HIM the evil eye and he squirmed a little bit. And then we kissed and made up.
Because sometimes in marriage you’ll have the answers, and other times he will. And that’s 100% fine with me.
But now I don’t care if all of the guys at church call him “Ducky” from now on. 🙂
This is such a sweet story. You two are so cute! I would have cried if I’d been in that circle and heard what you said!
what a cute story! my husband calls me mongoose. huh – somehow it doesn’t have the same ring to it. 😛
lookin forward to reading more of your blog!
Made love on the blog 🙂 Congrats by the way on Faces of Beauty…ill be contributing soon!
Love this post, especially coming back from a camping trip myself. It’s a beautiful thing sitting around the campfire with awesome friends sharing stories, laughter, and purely just being outdoors.
And those are only the types of stories that come from camping. Hysterical.
What a great time with friends, too fun!
A marriage retreat is such a great idea! What’s a healthy body if you don’t have healthy relationships right? Seeing all those outdoorsy pics makes me excited about getting out into nature more! I live in the middle of a big city, surrounded by concrete. It can get old fast;)
What a sweet post! Too funny! Love the pics, so beautiful and interesting! Thanks for sharing!!
What a sweet post, Heather. I love the photos (especially of the cool trees)! I laughed (out loud)when you said your husband would be a duck, but then I thought about what animal my husband would be. Your description of the male duck fits my husband perfectly! Protective, loyal and always loves me no matter what-I would say he is definately a duck! Tell Nate he is not the only duck out there. In fact, if there were more “ducks”, the world would be a better place! 🙂
hah oh my gosh this is SO CUTE HEATHER!!
i love you and your hubby – what a beautiful marriage that totally illustrates Gods love.
marriage retreats sound amazing!
Ducky! That was the cutest story ever.
What a cute story!! And his answer was pretty cute, too – but you set the bar WAY high!
Aw, so sweet! And how cool to have a marriage retreat with your church. I want to go on one!
What a cute story! It made me think what animal my bf would be too!
Awww, such a sweet story!! And I love the story about the ducks even more!!!
this is awesome. I love it… we have what we call “a duck couple” on our property – that’s exactly how the mallard is… always following and protecting. 🙂
Ok, your husbands “choice” is textbook hilarious. It reminded me of leadership camp at junior high church camp where we all took tests to see if we were the Otter, Golden Retriever, Lion or something else I can’t remember. All the golden retrievers were the really sweet girls that never fought with anyone…maybe his mind was subconsciously bringing that up??? 😉 I just found your blog btw and and I’m loving it! Ok, weird though, I totally found Jenna’s blog in that same issue of Self! Crazy huh!
Awww, I love this! You and Nate are so sweet. I’m sure he minds not a bit to be “your duck!” You two were obviously made for each other! 😉
You almost made ME cry. Such a touching story 🙂
This is a really great post Heather! I love that you guys did a marriage retreat with the church. Jason and I did pre-cana counseling with a big group of people before our wedding and we both really enjoyed it. I might need to check out if our church does any kind of retreats as well. I love sitting next to a campfire.
Aww 🙂 what a cute post!
What a precious story!!! 🙂
I think the nickname Ducky should stick.. I like it!
Ducky*
bahahaha….I’m totally going to start calling him Bucky