This guy turned 50 last week. The farmer in the family. He’s not the type to want a party, he doesn’t even drink much at all. So instead of a party we headed to nature, sort of. We were heading to Wyoming for our nephew’s wedding, since we were near Yellowstone (meaning like 7 hours) his gift was visiting there. That’s what he wanted, he had never been.
This is the guy that loves to talk about hunting, nature, and farming. So you can imagine his excitement when we were making our way to our destination and we came upon a momma bear and two cubs.
I am not kidding you when I share with you that my husband was like a child in a candy store that I had just told “you can have anything you want!” You can imagine what he did. Turned around, parked as quickly as possible, grabbed his phone, and binoculars and was out of the car. All the while telling our 8-year-old daughter to look!
So that was gift #1, seeing the bears. Seriously. I bet it’s on his top 5 greatest moments in life. Yes, they were that close, and we were not even in Yellowstone National Park.
We spent an entire day driving through and making the normal stops on the lower loop. I know he loved it and if he could have would have had his tent out there camping right alongside those bison, wolves, elk, and whatever other varmint lives there. Yep. That’s my guy.
The #2 gift was this moment.
It’d been a long day and although we’d seen bison we hadn’t seen much else in regards to animals. We were making our way back down the other loop and there were cars stopped and the traffic had slowed. (This is a hint that there is probably one of those animals there and many people are snapping their cameras at them!)
Sure enough, there was an Elk Bull right next to the road just enjoying his mid-day snack. He wasn’t paying any attention to the cars, just enjoying life. (I could take a lesson from this ol’ boy!) Milton once again got excited. The elk was literally only one lane away from Milton’s window.
Every fall my husband makes his way to Colorado to hunt elk. He has muzzle loaded hunted for probably over 20 years with the same group of guys. This one thing in our marriage he would never give up. (Yes I’ve tried, thank goodness our daughter was born in March not September!) He has shot elk, but of course has never been this close to a live one.
Once again I got to see the excitement that isn’t shown too often from this guy I married. I also was able to see him teach his daughter about something he loves. Nature and wild animals. She happens to love animals as well so it works out awesomely!
Then there was gift # 3 that was sort of spur of the moment. But it did fall on his actually birthday and he was thrilled with it. Just check out the picture below for proof! He had not been white water rafting for many years, I signed him up, and off he went!
So, although it wasn’t a big party I’m pretty sure this guy enjoyed his 50th birthday. Just ask him!
Perhaps it wasn’t just another day in a guy’s (his) life. And maybe, since his 40th birthday, his wife learned what really makes him happy. Here’s hoping the next 50 years are full of blessings for you!
Grace is a gift,
Julie
In Between the Sunsets of Life 