TroYYYYYYYYYY

So let me give a preview to the previous entry by Troy. Saturday night Troy and I were picking out a movie to watch after the kids went to bed. His usual rules have been, "No Harry Potter or any form of Pride and Prejudice, of which we have 3". This night he said, "Why don't we watch the 6 hour version of Pride and Prejudice". Of course I thought he was cracking a Troyism. After I realize he is serious, I jump on the idea! So over Saturday and Sunday nights he watched Pride and Prejudice in its entirety. So when he asked me if I wanted to go shooting I did feel a little obligated.

Monday morning we dropped the kids off at Merrily's house and it was off to the Baypoint Shooting Range in Concord. I was so out of my element, intimidated and nervous. I don't think I have been that nervous since I was an 8 year old in ski school for the first time and a bully in the class told me he was going to flush me down the toilet. That is the first experience that comes to mind anyway. I was totally out numbered men to women ratio and surrounded by people who like, buy, and enjoy shooting weapons on a regular basis. The most disturbing thing to me was that one wrong move here by anyone likely would result in death. So I was not this tough, heat packing, cool chick that Troy illustrates.

The mandatory orientation I received by the people who run the range did make me feel a little better. At least there were distinct rules that had to be obeyed. I was still nervous that I would be the one who fired in the wrong direction. Troy gave me very little instruction as he was new at this activity as well. So the first few rounds fired were very poor to be generous. I wholly missed the target at all. Troy kept looking at me like, "Wasn't that cool and isn't this fun?" . I kept looking at him like you are crazy and I am not happy.

Finally, an older gentlemen next to us probably noticed that I was not hitting anything and asked if I wanted to use something a little easier like a .22 revolver. He said that his wife first hated automatics but enjoyed shooting a revolver. At this point I felt like I would try anything once. So he gave me a few pointers like how to actually line the gun up with the target. I will say shooting is much more enjoyable when you can actually hit something. By the end of our session I felt a little more confident and heaven forbid the occasion occur, I can protect my family.

My children are ignorant of this event and I hope they will remain ignorant until they have families of their own that may need security.

I guess the thing to come away with from these two very different activities is that maybe after 10 years of marriage Troy and I have learned a little about adaptation and comprimise.