the magic number....30

lately, i have been concious of how little time the Love of My Life and i have been together, just the two of us. we've been going and doing since the holidays started at thanksgiving and i have noticed the toll it's taking. i was thinking back to the last weekend we were home, at our home. i still couldn't recall spending some good quality time together and then it hit me. we're reaching the tail end of duck season.

i asked LOML how many times he had gone duck hunting this season. i had tried to add it up in my mind. this is the first "married duck season" in which there hasn't been an argument EVERY time he returned from a hunt. perhaps this is because of my better developed independence in my semi-new city. regardless, i wasn't prepared for his answer. he thought for a moment, looked up at the ceiling (this is what he does when he's estimating or not telling the whole truth, along with one little sniff at the end of a sentence in which he doesn't know how i'll respond), and told me that he had been hunting "probably around 30 to 40 times." i was in shock. 30-40 times?!? 30-40 early mornings, 30-40 nights of packing for the hunt, 30-40 instances of thinking, "i hope he saved his blow money to pay for gas." and even having gone all of those times, his appetite is still big. as a boy, his first taste of freezing cold, uncomfortable waders, and killing those poor, innocent ducks would always leave him wanting more. much like one handful of m and m's is never enough for me. i guess i hadn't had the realization until he answered my question...i really am a hunter's widow.