The Great Outdoors
Snow fell heavily that blustery February night. Hannah and I had only been married a year or so, and we were still caught somewhere between adventurous college students filled with puppy love and established married folks who made budgets and paid bills on time. Centerville was halfway between her work at the Hero Family Resource Center in Hale County and my classes at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law. It was a great first hometown for us in our newlywed life…
“Let’s go camping,” I insisted. She rolled her eyes with hesitation but sheepishly played along. “Come on! It will be great… we’ll make a big fire and drink hot chocolate and snuggle, and when we wake up, we’ll find a winter wonderland like we’ve never experienced!” Hannah was not nearly as in love with the outdoors as I was. I could tell she was reluctant, but I made many assurances that all would be as planned and exceed her every expectation. Thirty minutes later, we had my little two-wheel drive Isuzu truck loaded to the gills, and off we sputtered… gears-a-grinding… down the road.
A friend from college had family land in Pea Ridge, northwest of Montevallo. We hunted and explored there often during our days at the University of Montevallo. With a quick, rotary dial phone call, we had permission to camp in a small clearing where logging trucks once were loaded with harvested timber. Situated on the knob of a hill overlooking the Cahaba River valley floor, the clearing offered the grandest of views. I couldn’t only imagine the beauty we would see as the sun came up over the ‘white as snow’ landscape below us…
I shivered with anticipation while Hannah shuddered with hesitation. Our little truck wound its way through the hill country of Shelby County and settled into a nice rumble down the dirt road that led deeper into the forest. Turning to the south onto what was the driveway to our friend’s property, we found the snow deeper… “It’s been snowing ‘up’ here a while, I think,” I suggested to Hannah. Despite my own warnings, I drove headlong into the snow-covered dirt road, now water-logged with snow melt from ground heat and rain from the day before. Two hundred yards in, and we were stuck deeper than a pig, neck deep in slop. Both rear wheels spun faster and faster… and no matter how much I revved that little 4-cylinder engine, I couldn’t drown out Hannah’s protests and threats of violence “If you get me stuck out here!”
Just after dawn the following morning, I woke to the sound of a truck coming up the dirt road. I struggled to get my boots on and shuffled up the snowed driveway, laces draggin’ and feet sliding so as to not step out of my boots. Seeing my despair, the driver stopped, and, after a bit of explanation, was kind enough to pull us out. Hannah didn’t speak to me the entire ride home… and not much the night before, or after. She stayed mad at me for a few days longer, too… but for me, I am grateful. I learned that night to be mindful of my wife’s hesitations. Marriage really is a team effort, and, that night, I insisted on a course as Captain, with a reluctant crew. It’s been years now, and I still think back on that frigid night, and how the Lord used it to make me a little better husband… I pray.
And, no… we again never went camping in the snow! “I’m an electric blanket kind of girl!” Hannah insists.
-Walt Merrell
A Christian Outdoorsman who writes of his adventures with his family, with the hope that others might be inspired and encouraged to embrace God’s tapestry, otherwise known as the great outdoors, as a means of finding Common Ground. You can follow him at Shepherding Outdoors on FB, YT and IG and at shepherdingoutdoors.com. His most recent book is available at shepherdingbook.com. Read his faith story at www.BirminghamChristian.com.
