Lions, Tigers, and Lundin…Oh My!

After being on a wait list for almost three months, I gave up hope. There was no way I'd be able to surprise JD with the gift he didn't even know he wanted, even after my desperate attempts of making it happen. You see, I've openly admitted JD and I have the most opposite TV preferences (as in, he watches educational shows and I watch shows that makes a person dumber), but it's one of the things I love about him. I adore his constant hunger for knowledge.

Most nights I fall asleep to the hushed sounds of JD watching his favorite Discovery channel adventure guru, Cody Lundin, walk barefoot through snow, jungles, and mountains subsisting on what he can make or find from his surroundings. Have a Brillo pad, garden hose, and fish tank? Boom, Cody can make a generator. Have moss, a palm leaf, and rocks? Boom, Cody can make a water purifier.

Basically, Cody is living every burly man's dream.

In December I registered JD for one of Cody's sold out classes and emailed Cody's assistant every three weeks begging for an update. I wanted to surprise JD for his birthday in March, but it didn't seem like it'd work out…until 11:58pm on the night of JD's birthday. I squealed and tried to backflip (with no luck) and told JD his application was accepted and he'd be going to Arizona to live off nothing but the desert dirt. He stared blankly at me until I shouted, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SILLY!!!

JD, Cody, and ten students spent the weekend walking through the desert and weren't allowed to take anything except the clothes on their backs. JD made a fire from sticks, harvested edible berries, and collected leaves to make a blanket when the night settled around 40-degrees…he was basically living out his TV dream…and my made-for-the-Hallmark-movie-channel nightmare.

When JD texted me on Monday morning with this picture, I couldn't have been prouder of him. He made it through the desert, created an adventure, and didn't get eaten by a mountain lion. Now when I fall asleep to the sound of Cody's voice at night, I'll silently thank him for keeping my husband alive…and assuring me hotel room service is adventurous as I ever want to be.