Well, recently I encountered a strange man while on a hike and have been thinking more and more about protecting myself. I have refused having a weapon just because the thought of it scares me, and I feel like "what if it goes off in my purse or something...?!"
So I called my older older brother who has an arsenal in his kitchen. He, to a fault, does not trust people. I asked him if he'd be willing to teach me how to shoot since the last time I went it scared the crap out of me. He said he was free and so we planned a day and I prepared myself for about 2 weeks.
I got butterflies and tried to cancel because I was scared but he made me go so we went. My brother served in the Gulf war and was in the army for upwards of 7 years. He is a first degree black belt in two different martial arts....don't ask me what they are, I have NO idea. That stuff doesn't interest me at all. Call me "girl."
So I show up at his house a couple days ago. He opens his massive safe to reveal at LEAST 20 different weapons on top of his knife, sword, and other crazy collection upstairs! Crazy ya think? Just a tad. But at least we'll be safe right?
We head out to the shooting range, and I found out there is an outdoors range not to far from my home. I think I enjoyed that way more than being indoors. The echo isn't so loud and I didn't feel like I was being watched by all the guys waiting to see me screw up.
We posted some targets and my bro gave me a lesson on 3 different kinds of guns. It took me a couple tries to before I started marking on the target but then I worked on my form and breathing and actually hit dead center a few times! Once you get used to the scary-ness of it, it's really fun! His ear muffy things were really good too so it wasn't so loud. My ears are really sensitive to loudness, so if I go to concerts I have to wear ear plugs to actually enjoy the music.
Well after shooting I was so elated but I didn't have anyone to tell, so I am saving my targets for a rainy day. Hopefully I will get to show them off. I was pretty proud of myself for overcoming a fear of mine. This week I am going to a different range to take a safety course, and then they have a free rental day once a week so I can go and just pay for ammo and shoot! What should I wear???
So my bro had a BBQ for my dad's side of the family the next day. I never really talk to my dad. Our relationship is pretty much SOL. He got married a couple weeks after my sister did and I felt bad but none of his kids went to it. I guess you reap what you sow, but I won't lie, I still felt some sadness about it. Anyways he was there, so I tried to make an effort and sit with him and his new wife and talk about stuff. It wasn't too bad, two of my sisters were there, and my older bro. Matt and Tab couldn't make it up for some reason so it was just a few of us.
We looked at a ton of baby pics of all of us. My dad and his plethora of women. We've had some serious tragedies in our family and it was hard to see some of the pics but it was good too. I felt like we left with a greater appreciation for each other. There were several pictures of us kids being placed next to marijuana plants to compare our height to it....Oh how all of our parents were hippie weed smokers.
My dad was forced to stop all that shenanigans when he met my mom. We all have different moms....LONG STORY. But my mom had her fun in the 70's too. My family is pretty ridiculous, but how can you not love them?
It was good, probably not the best to have a weekly BBQ or anything, but you know, it was still a nice time to see everyone. And one of the best parts is McKenzi's son was allowed to come with us. He is looking more and more like her each day. I miss her so much.
Anyways, it was a good time. I'm off to church to see the grandparents and hopefully learn a little something new about how to live life better.
Love to ya.
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