A Good Day

Fall days in Reno are often absolutely gorgeous and today was no exception.   The temperature was just about as perfect as it can get and there was not one single cloud in the sky.  It was a good day to be outside.

The hub and I decided to go to the range.  I haven’t been shooting very long.  In fact until quite recently I had never fired a weapon in my life and didn’t care to.  My only experiences with guns have been bad and I associated the badness with the weapons and not the people involved, even though it should have been the other way around.  It has taken me decades to push that fear aside and tackle something that scared me so much.

I’m not sure why I decided that the time to do new things and push envelopes was now, except that I turned 40 this year and have had a bit of a me-renaissance going on.   I’ve let go of some old ideas I had about myself and what I should be or do.  I’ve stopped caring so much about doing what is expected of me and have started instead doing what I want, being the person I want to be.   It’s not winning me any points with some of the people in my life, but part of the being who I want to be is accepting that it’s going to be a problem for those that like to keep me firmly slotted in my designated role.  I’m ok with that.  I no longer care to follow the script of getting along and not rocking the boat.  I can swim, the damn boat can sink if it wants to!

So I’ve learned to shoot.  Sort of.  I’m not very good at hitting points on a target yet, but I can hit the target and that’s pretty cool.   I can break down my own gun into all of its parts and put it back together.  I am more comfortable with it in my hand each time I use it, and although I don’t expect to get over that most primal of fears that something can go wrong I am more confident that it won’t than I used to be.  Besides, a healthy dose of fear and respect keeps you on your toes in situations where you could shoot your face off.

I’m glad to be learning something new and growing past old fears.  Now if I can learn to stop limp-wristing it (according to the awesome Rangemaster who taught me some new things) maybe I can stop the hot brass from going down my shirt and burning the boobage.  That will make you dance, let me tell you!