miscellany monday - I survived the wilderness.

It's Monday. Which means it's time for miscellany monday with carissa.




ONE.
I went to Small Town this weekend to see the Boyfriend. We hadn't seen each other in a month and a half and I just couldn't take it anymore. I went knowing that I would be working from a "bunkhouse" while he and his buds went hunting. It turned out that one of the girlfriends came, and we went on the adventure, too! The ranch we stayed on was super gorgeous. Which also made it a nice, relaxing weekend.

TWO.
The guy who had the tag (which I've learned is what you get to be able to kill something) was in a terrible accident a year and a half ago. It left him a quadriplegic.  He has been making an incredible recovery, but is confined to a wheelchair.  The Boyfriend created a gun rest that would attach to both his wheelchair and the Rhino (which is a two seater four-wheeler, basically, I think) so that he could aim the gun and pull the trigger, despite lacking the arm strength to hold the gun itself.

THREE.
I learned that hunting is a lot of staring at brush, looking for movement. Sometimes I felt like I was doing a crossword puzzle, going up and down, up and down, over huge areas.

FOUR.
The boys had a great time. The other girlfriend and I got to ask lots of "silly" questions since we had backup. Neither one of us knew the answer, so the boys couldn't tease us too much. We also made smores in the front yard on a BBQ. ... I'm sure they thought we were ridiculous.

FIVE.
The hunt was successful. I will spare you the pictures of the poor animal, but it was really exciting to see the Boyfriend's friend be able to feel normal again.

SIX.
I have never been so proud, or so in love with this man as I was this weekend. He is so selfless and has such a big heart. He will lay down his life for his friends, and treated his friend like one of the guys - as if the accident never happened. The Boyfriend also got into one of his wheelchairs and tried doing simple tasks in it - like getting a drink out of the fridge and getting into the bathroom. I was worried this was offensive, until the girlfriend started to get teary eyed. She said it was the first time someone tried to see what life was like for them now.

I don't understand why tragedy strikes some people. But I do know what it's like to be surrounded by love and friendship. And this weekend was absolutely perfect.  We all have our hardships and difficulties. It was wonderful to all come together, escape the business of life, and somehow relax while waking up at 5 AM every day and riding around the wilderness.

SEVEN.

OH, and the Boyfriend says I passed the hunting test and now I'm stuck with him forever.

I'm ok with that ;).