Happy, Happy, Happy: My Life and Legacy as the Duck Commander

submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.
    That’s Miss Kay in a nutshell—she’s a kind and gentle woman. In my eyes, she’s the most beautiful woman on Earth, on the inside and the outside. She has a natural beauty about her and doesn’t need a lot of makeup or fancy clothes to show it. The more makeup a woman wears, the more she’s trying to hide; makeupcan hide a lot of evil. I think Miss Kay is probably a lot like Sarah was. For some reason, we always talk about Abraham, the father of our faith, but nobody ever mentions Sarah, the mother of our faith. I’m beginning to suspect the reason the mother of our faith is never mentioned is because people don’t appreciate a woman who is beautiful on the inside, who is quiet, gentle, and submissive. But God says that being a woman like that is of great worth in His eyes. I believe that Sarah, the mother of our faith, should be revered as much as Abraham, the father of our faith.
    Kay and I always were the perfect match. I was our high school quarterback, and she was a cheerleader. We first started going together when she was in the ninth grade and I was in the tenth. One of Kay’s older friends decided we might make a cute couple, so she told Kay that I wanted her to walk me off the football field after one of our games. Then the girl came to me and said, “You know that little cheerleader Kay Carroway? She wants you to walk with her off the field after the game.” The rest is history, as they say.
    Kay and I started dating shortly thereafter, but it didn’t last very long. As soon as the Christmas holidays were over, hunting season started, and I was determined to spend all my free time in the woods. I didn’t have time for a girlfriend, and I certainly wasn’t going to take Kay in the woods with me. Women are a lot like ducks—they don’t like mud on their butts. I figured shewould just get in the way. But then the next May, Kay’s daddy died of a massive heart attack. She was only fourteen at the time, and I knew it was going to be really hard on her. I went to her daddy’s funeral, and we made eye contact. I asked her out a few weeks later, and we’ve been together ever since.

    Women are a lot like ducks—they don’t like mud on their butts.

    Kay’s mother wasn’t thrilled when we started dating again. She told Kay, “You don’t want to marry into that bunch.” But Kay told her mother that even though my family didn’t have much money, we loved each other and that was worth a lot more than new cars and fancy clothes.
    “They might be poor, but they don’t know they’re poor,” Kay told her mother. “They’re a very happy family and love each other. They don’t realize they’re missing things other people have.”
    After Kay’s daddy died, her mother started dating again and spent a lot of time away from home. Her mother started drinking heavily and became an alcoholic. It was a hard time for Kay, but she always had a safe place to go at our house. Kay is a person of strong principles—many of them learned from her grandmother, whom she called Nannie. Kay spent a lot of time during her growing-up years with Nannie, as both her parents worked full-time in the Ida general store, which was founded by her grandfather and had been in the Carroway family for seventy-five years.Kay’s father worked in the store every day, while her mama tried to do it all: cooking, taking care of the house, and working alongside her husband.
    Kay learned how to cook from her grandmother, and I love the woman for teaching her. Kay can prepare anything from wild game to unbelievably good pies, biscuits, and just about anything you can name. The table she sets is renowned among our family, friends, employees, television crewmen, hunters, and others, and