11/21/2025
✨ What Makes the Snead Marriage Work ✨
Shane and I have been together almost 11 years, and we’ll celebrate nine years of marriage in June 2026. If I’m being honest, that first year was rocky. I had never been married to someone who worked on the road… much less someone who could be gone all summer long. And becoming a hunter’s wife? That was an adjustment all on its own.
Back then, hunting season felt personal. I often found my feelings hurt, and I convinced myself that when the woods called, Shane somehow forgot about me.
But as I began chasing my own recovery—becoming the best version of Judy—I finally learned something life-changing:
My happiness doesn’t come from Shane.
My happiness comes from God and from within myself.
The moment I understood that, my attitude began to shift. I didn’t want another failed marriage. I wanted growth. I wanted peace. And I realized Shane DID love me during hunting season… he just shows love differently. Hunting is something he has to do for him, and I had to come to terms with that.
Like that country song “I’m Gonna Miss Her”—you either accept your man’s passion or you lose him.
Well, I chose acceptance… and wisdom… and honestly, it changed everything.
Today? I’ve learned to use hunting season as my own vacation. I enjoy the quiet. I enjoy the freedom. And I enjoy the woman I’ve become.
Do we meet each other’s needs perfectly?
Absolutely not — and that’s the truth.
Shane desires a wife who loves hunting with the same passion he does.
That will never be me.
And I desire a husband who shows love by giving thoughtful gifts and surprises.
That will never be Shane.
So how are we so happy?
Because I finally understood Shane’s love language.
His love isn’t in shopping bags or wrapped boxes…
His love is in his hands.
It’s in the things he builds.
It’s in the long hours he works so we have the life we have.
It’s in the way he opened our home and welcomed Larry to live with us for the past nine years without a single complaint.
And since Shane isn’t here to defend himself (lol), let me say this part too:
He knows I love him — because I’ve never left his side.
I don’t gripe about the long hours or the hunting seasons.
I keep our home steady.
I make the decisions he trusts.
I’ve never lied. I’ve never cheated. I’ve never walked away.
Not once.
I’ve stood by him through thick and thin.
That’s what makes the Snead marriage work.
Not perfection.
Not matching love languages.
Not getting everything we want from each other…
But choosing each other.
Choosing to stay.
Choosing to grow.
Choosing love — even when it looks different than we first imagined.
