A week of firsts...

As we make our way through the completely ridiculous mess that comprises everyday life, there are moments that stand out for the better. These moments let you know why it is that you get out of bed in the morning. Patrick came in the other day with a grade report that showed an average of 98... Saturday saw a good time at breakfast in town with the family, that included a walk around the square, a visit to Scott's Book Store, Broad Street Sweets (where I had a great cannoli) and we stopped by the hobby shop where James picked up his first ever balsa wood flyer...

Oddly enough, here it is Wednesday and the balsa wood flyer is still in one piece... For me and my brother they rarely lasted an entire day. Yet, when we were kids, every time my mom came back from town she had a few with her... a wonderful two dollar investment for anyone with kids...

This evening I made an executive decision... He is still a bit young for it, so must be heavily supervised, but the time has come for the passing on of the beloved daisy bb gun. When I got home, we ate some quick sandwiches and headed out for the first ever shooting practice. We made our way down to the garden and sat some soft drink cans around at different distances, then sat down for a long debriefing and discussion of protocol concerning bb gun safety... After James was ready to explode out of his skin, I got the gun ready and placed it in his hands. I walked him through the holding and aiming nuances and then stepped back.... What followed was an amazing display of kindergarten marksmanship. I have to admit I was taken aback by James ability. I had to cock the rifle between each shot, but he drew down and took aim with patience and care. He showed tremendous adherence to the rules I had given him, and plinked with the seeming eye of an old pro. All five cans fell in five shots. We moved on to different types of shooting, here he is practicing propping the rifle...

He is still a bit small to place the rifle correctly on his shoulder when firing, but he compensated adequately with perfect results...

Then he wanted me to teach him how the soldiers shoot while sitting down... We went through several different variations, I finally let him adopt his own method.. Again, with perfect results.

The moment arrived when we were about head back in and I was faced with a rather smug kid who had the attitude of "did you expect anything less?" He, like his brother before him, has shown a propensity for marksmanship, remarkable hand eye coordination. Here he is showing off the last can he shot, he tumbled it over about five times with ease...

Being the son of an avid shooter and hunter, I can honestly say that Grand Daddy would have been very proud of James... In fact, I feel fairly comfortable with the knowledge that he was watching the entire evening play out with a big "shit eating grin" on his face...