Those of you who read my Forces of Nurture column today know what’s in store:

Pictures of the ugly shirt I wore to grab Hubs attention before we started dating.

Pictures of our wedding at Big Bend National Park.

And pictures from our many other trips there.

(If you haven’t read the column, go to the Little Rock Mamas homepage, look to the top right, and you’ll see Forces of Nurture. In my column, I describe how Hubs and I met, our wedding, etc… If that’s not enticement enough, you also can read about my shameless behavior that preceded our courtship.)

Back already?

All right, then, let’s proceed:

(That pic was taken three years ago, hence the bangs, shorter hair and belly.)

OK, moving on.

Here we are at the Window View Trail, where a kick-ass trippy-hippie justice of the peace married us. My lovely stepdaughter Cece helped me pick out that dress.

We return to Big Bend each year. It’s my favoritest national park, and believe me, I have been to many.

Usually, we spend the first night of each trip at the Gage Hotel in Marathon. This is where we stayed on our wedding night.

After stopping at the Gage, we leave Marathon and drive down to the park, where we camp for several nights.

Big Bend is so still, so silent, and at night, so dark, you see and hear things that the “real world” blocks out.

After camping in the park, we always head back to Marathon for a night or two at the Gage. Then we settle cozily into the White Buffalo Bar.