We're Packing... and not boxes...

My sister-in-law and I

Yeah so, I grew up in a house knowing that there were guns.  I knew they were there but I never saw them.  Well except for Friday nights when my Dad would inevitably clean his when a guy would be comin' a callin' on his daughter.

I was petrified of guns.  Didn't like them, they were weapons of death.  I was more liberal and open minded (maybe that's where I lost my mind...have to ponder that - I was so open minded it fell out) - anyway, I will admit that I voted for Billy in 1992.  What did I know?  I was 19 and my only experince with guns were knowing that they had murdered people I cared about.  I smoked weird stuff then... who knows what I was thinking legalize marijuana and outlaw guns.  Who was that girl???

So about a year ago I read this bumper sticker that said, "If guns kill people then spoons make them fat".  Somehow that just made sense to me.  Now, I know some heat carrying women, you know who you are ;), and I always thought that they were a little on the "Chicken Little -the sky is falling" mentality.  However either I got this by osmosis...by just hanging out with them or it's a fear that I truly just don't have anymore.  I love to shoot.

I will be the first to admit there is still some fear.  I still shoot the first shot in my clip with my eyes closed.  Trying to familiarize myself with the noise and the feel again.  There are nine more bullets in the clip I trust that one of them will hit my target.  I am still working on it.  I have come a long way in just a few months.  

What I know is that my 11 year old son last night had a conversation with me that led me to believe that he doesn't have the same fear of guns his momma does.  He said he wanted his own shotgun...( we all know you hunt with a rifle - his Daddy set him straight in his retelling of the story at bedtime) so that he could go walking in the woods near our new place.  He said that way if he walked up on a deer he could shoot it.  Then come home and tell me that he shoot his gun (he doesn't want me to worry if I hear a shot) jump on his 4wheeler then go pick up the deer and bring it home.  I tried to tell him that he needed to dress the deer in the field.  He doesn't want any part of that right now.  He said that is Daddy's job, he will kill it and eat it.

So my wonderful husband and my Florida born mountain raised son are out buying a rifle.  I guess when boys get ideas like he did last night it's right time that his Daddy takes him and buys a rifle.  Men, I love them and thier rites of passage.