Carrie and Zach enjoy some sunshine in the 10 degree weather outside of their rented dark house on Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin.

For Valentine’s Day we’d planned on visiting the Lodge in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  We were going to go up Friday night and Come back Sunday.

When my Aunt let us know we’d be having my cousin’s baby shower on Sunday at 11:00am my initial thought was that we’d leave early Sunday morning, drive the two hours home and then I’d drive the hour and a half to Madison.

A few weeks later we found out Zach’s aunt was having a birthday party an hour south of us on Saturday night so then we decided to cut the weekend even shorter and come back even earlier on Saturday afternoon.

Then Zach suggested we shift everything ahead one day.  So we both scheduled vacation time on Friday so we could go up and come home Saturday afternoon and still get some serious quality “us” time in.

The Lodge is a five star resort with amazing rooms and a fabulous indoor waterpark.  I was looking forward to a few days of relaxing and spending time with the only man whose company I have always truly adored.

When I came home the evening of Sunday, February 10^th I was exhausted.  I’d just participated in the most amazing media event one could ever ask for.  The Women on Winnebago event’s main focus was sturgeon spearing.

But what no one realized was when you invite a dozen media outlets, newspapers and tv shows to cover the event, all of your time is spent giving interviews and networking instead of spearing.  One crew alone took two hours out of the eight total weekend hours we had to spear.

I was somewhat discouraged and a bit unhappy that there was no “happy ending” to our story.  It was an amazing event and a wonderful time but the icing on the cake would have been a sturgeon taken by one of the participants.

To me, as a writer, it would have been the perfect ending to an exciting story.

Monday evening my husband asked what I wanted for Valentine’s Day.  In the past he’s sent roses to my workplace, treated me to lavish dinners and getaways but this year I looked at him and said “To be honest with you I want to sit in a dark house and spear a sturgeon for Valentine’s Day”.

Being the supportive man that he is, he paused for just a moment and said with conviction: “then screw Green Bay – let’s rent a shanty and sit in it on Saturday and try and get you a sturgeon.”

It’s those split second decisions that make me love him even more.

He was willing to give up what he would have enjoyed much more to go sit on the ice for six hours in the dark and try to spear a creature we more than likely won’t even see.

It is truly this support that makes the Wild World of CarrieZ and her nutty hostess successful.  Without his support or if he constantly made me feel guilty for participating in these events I wouldn’t be where I am today.

It wasn’t always that way.  For years he wasn’t thrilled with what he thought was just a hobby.  But then he realized that this wasn’t just a hobby, that this was my passion.  That being in the outdoors and hunting and fishing made me happy.  So instead of fighting me on it all the time he embraced it.  Because there are many, many people in this world without a passion.  Without something that makes them feel alive.

He doesn’t necessarily want to participate in everything but spending time with me sitting in a dark house waiting on a fish that may never even show up even though he can’t even spear it – makes him happy.  Because he’s still spending time with me, we still get to be together.

And that is amazing to me.

Many times I have a hard time putting other people ahead of my own wants and desires.  The only exception to that is Zach.  I would give up everything going on in my life if something that meant a lot to him came up.

Because that’s what our relationship is about.  Give and take.  And unconditional support.

Does it make me sad to have missed one of his band’s gigs to go on a fishing trip?  Or miss holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas with my family because I was deer hunting?  Of course it does.  But the fact that he supports me enough to be able to miss those things is a blessing.

And makes me cherish him and want to make him happy all the more.

We’ve discussed kids many times.  I’m not really interested in having them but I’m only 36, that could change in two years.  Zach would be a wonderful father, he’d have a blast teaching them how to fish or play guitar.

Just yesterday we were talking about children and still being able to go on vacations or hunting trips.  He said “well of course you’d still be able to go on hunting trips; I’m quite capable of taking care of a child for a week while you’re gone.”  All I could think of was “did I really marry this saint?”

The point is we’d work it out.  I might miss a son or daughter’s play because I’m in another state hunting but he would be there and that child would know that it’s ok, once in a while, to put yourself and your passion and what makes you happy above all else.  Chances are that kid would be pissed he or she wasn’t along with me rather than in a play!

I know many of my extended family members just roll their eyes at my outdoor career.  Some of them think it’s silly, that I should stay home more or that missing a family event with people I see once a year is a tragedy.

Luckily the rest of the family is so very proud of me and what I’ve accomplished that I can get a free pass once in a while.

But balancing family with your passion is tough.  There are only so many weekends in the year.  There are only so many days in a hunting season and when the conditions are perfect – well; Zach is the first one handing me my camo and making excuses for why I’m not there.

I am very blessed to have the support system in place that I do have.

Because without it; I would be one boring shell of a human being.

There’s no one I love more.

~
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