sm
member
Folks were gathered on the big old porch out back of the house.
It had been a nice day, quality time spent with like kind.
Kids getting to shoot , adults assisting kids, and the passing forward as passed to being perpetuated.
The Chili Dawgs had been fixed and consumed, the guns all put away safely and while the kids watched a old movie with Peter Sellers, called The Pink Panther Returns inside, the adults on the porch outside drank coffee, smoked, and nibbled on various chocolates...
"Kids had a good time today, heck I had a good time today" said one old boy, he continued with " you know, I don't know who was more excited the kid hit that can at a new longer distance, or me assisting the kid"
"Well you did hoop-n-holler a bit louder than the kid, so most likely you were the excited one"
Folks chuckled and heads nodded, they all understood, sometimes the best times with firearms is when one themselves do not do the shooting.
Then it got quiet, everyone thinking about growing up, and shooting, and how some adult did not shoot, instead let them as a kid shoot all they wanted, assisted them, mentored and parented them...
"Pa had a single shot, my size , and taught me"
"Grandma had her gun as a kid and I got to shoot that gun with her help"
"Uncle brought his for the Scout Troop, dad had to be out of town and was really upset he could not get out of it, we had a lot of fun doing Scout stuff together..."
I don't really know what kind it was...
Daddy was killed in a car wreck when I was little and mom got all weirded out after that.
She got to drinking and my older brother and I, did not have any guns.
Daddy hunted and all but they said momma sold his guns for booze.
Brother and I took care of one another, afraid of mom and they way she got.
We'd get to spend time with a Aunt & Uncle often, boy, that was right nice of them to be there for us.
It was the beginning of summer and we had done all the chores and gotten caught up.
Aunt & Uncle said it was time for us to learn some more stuff, we were not getting at home, they were really great about this, they really raised us, if the truth be known, just we lived with mom is all...
Brother being a year older got to shoot first after the lessons on safety and that gun was so simple, just our size, and I guess I did not know what all I was feeling, but I felt something...
My Aunt assisted me when it was my turn. I hit the can the first time I tried. Granted it not very far out, still I remember knocking that sucker off that box!
Sounds stupid, but me and brother saved that first little pc of brass casing, it meant a lot to us...
That day is the day brother and I know we changed inside somehow.
We did not feel like little kids in the way, a bother, too expensive, or insignificant anymore.
We set some boundary's with mom, and took back control of our lives best we could being kids still, under her roof.
When momma killed herself, Aunt and Uncle took us in and we had a home, and family for real like real kids.
Aunt and Uncle really were able to raise us right from then on ...
I don't really know what kind it was...that little .22 single shot we shot, and it was stolen some years later and we cried.
Aunt & Uncle were upset too...but we all went out and each got a .22 rifle that fit us and we liked.
It still means a lot to me, and I don't really know what kind it was...
While the kids inside laughed at the movie, the adults on the porch nodded heads, some wiped a tear, and one gave the lady that shared, an arm around the shoulder hug.
To keep it - give it away
Steve
It had been a nice day, quality time spent with like kind.
Kids getting to shoot , adults assisting kids, and the passing forward as passed to being perpetuated.
The Chili Dawgs had been fixed and consumed, the guns all put away safely and while the kids watched a old movie with Peter Sellers, called The Pink Panther Returns inside, the adults on the porch outside drank coffee, smoked, and nibbled on various chocolates...
"Kids had a good time today, heck I had a good time today" said one old boy, he continued with " you know, I don't know who was more excited the kid hit that can at a new longer distance, or me assisting the kid"
"Well you did hoop-n-holler a bit louder than the kid, so most likely you were the excited one"
Folks chuckled and heads nodded, they all understood, sometimes the best times with firearms is when one themselves do not do the shooting.
Then it got quiet, everyone thinking about growing up, and shooting, and how some adult did not shoot, instead let them as a kid shoot all they wanted, assisted them, mentored and parented them...
"Pa had a single shot, my size , and taught me"
"Grandma had her gun as a kid and I got to shoot that gun with her help"
"Uncle brought his for the Scout Troop, dad had to be out of town and was really upset he could not get out of it, we had a lot of fun doing Scout stuff together..."
I don't really know what kind it was...
Daddy was killed in a car wreck when I was little and mom got all weirded out after that.
She got to drinking and my older brother and I, did not have any guns.
Daddy hunted and all but they said momma sold his guns for booze.
Brother and I took care of one another, afraid of mom and they way she got.
We'd get to spend time with a Aunt & Uncle often, boy, that was right nice of them to be there for us.
It was the beginning of summer and we had done all the chores and gotten caught up.
Aunt & Uncle said it was time for us to learn some more stuff, we were not getting at home, they were really great about this, they really raised us, if the truth be known, just we lived with mom is all...
Brother being a year older got to shoot first after the lessons on safety and that gun was so simple, just our size, and I guess I did not know what all I was feeling, but I felt something...
My Aunt assisted me when it was my turn. I hit the can the first time I tried. Granted it not very far out, still I remember knocking that sucker off that box!
Sounds stupid, but me and brother saved that first little pc of brass casing, it meant a lot to us...
That day is the day brother and I know we changed inside somehow.
We did not feel like little kids in the way, a bother, too expensive, or insignificant anymore.
We set some boundary's with mom, and took back control of our lives best we could being kids still, under her roof.
When momma killed herself, Aunt and Uncle took us in and we had a home, and family for real like real kids.
Aunt and Uncle really were able to raise us right from then on ...
I don't really know what kind it was...that little .22 single shot we shot, and it was stolen some years later and we cried.
Aunt & Uncle were upset too...but we all went out and each got a .22 rifle that fit us and we liked.
It still means a lot to me, and I don't really know what kind it was...
While the kids inside laughed at the movie, the adults on the porch nodded heads, some wiped a tear, and one gave the lady that shared, an arm around the shoulder hug.
To keep it - give it away
Steve
