gailwernerphotography.com

Based on conversations I’ve had with my photographer friends, I’m starting to think those of us who wield cameras on a regular basis are cut from the same cloth: We all live so far in the future — booking sessions into 2010, taking appointments for next month, thinking about that batch of photos we have to edit this week— that we can have a hard (SO HARD) time living in the moment. You know, just sitting still. Doing nothing. Chillaxin’ … (Even if I do take a minute to curl up on the couch, I’m all, “Where’s a book? What can I be knitting while I watch this show?” I take multitasking to a level that’s unheard of…)

Enter my husband. In this department, he is the ying to my yang. Nick grew up in the prettiest pocket of Indiana (Brown County for the unfamiliar), which means the man craves nature like I crave the click of my shutter. On any given weekend, we exchange a hug and a kiss, and I’m out the door shooting a wedding while he’s spending 7 hours fishing or kayaking or bicycling through the countryside. It’s a lifestyle that suits us perfectly, but every so often, Nick asks if I want to come along. On Sunday, I said yes.

So we took a little venture complete with picnic, boats and a stretch of sandy little beach to just relax and say “Ahhhhhh.” It was SO worth it. I love doing things like this with my husband. It centers me. Reminds me how good it is to get out. And how sometimes, in this thing called life, we need to do just that. LIVE IT.

Now, this wouldn’t be a tale of adventure without uncoordination on my part (this is, after all, the same gal who, when attempting to ski with her husband for the first time in Colorado, ended up with a bruise on her tailbone the size of a 4×4 tire). As we were headed back to shore, for some reason, no matter how hard I tried to correct it, I started paddling in circles.

Nick: “Just, just … I think you’re thinking too hard about this.”

Me: “Nooo. I promise you, I’M NOT.”

Nick: “Well, keep your eyes on the shore and maybe if you focus on that, it’ll get you there.”

Me: “Okay, do you see how well this is working” (paddling furiously as my eyes stay focused on the horizon and whole body shifts to the left with the boat)

Nick: (Pulls a rope from his kayak) “Do I need to pull you back to shore with this?”

I’m not even kidding when I say that little scenario could act for a tidy little summary of my marriage (and just for the record, I DIDN’T NEED IT )

PS - I was totally rocking the “I-just-rolled-out-of-bed-and-didn’t-do-a-thing-to-myself-but-put-on-sunscreen” look here, so my apologies if that close-up gave you all a scare. At least my hubby’s cute, right?