april 24, 2016

“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.”
~ Gail Sheehy

Addendum to original post: Cousin Brian pointed out that what I captured below is actually the wad that packs in the buckshot, not the shot itself (and certainly not bullets as they are shooting rifles). However, he confirmed that I did capture the shot in the image of Kevin. It’s a faint whisp ahead of the wad, hardly noticeable without the other image for comparison. I said “squee!”. Thanks for the teaching moment, Brian! I adore my family.

Yesterday the family convened for a spring soiree at Uncle Harold and Aunt Phyllis’ farm in Morgan County.  Harold has three sons, left to right: Evyian, Kevin, and Brian. There’s absolutely no mistaking they’re brothers, and without guns in their faces, there’s no mistaking that Evyian and Kevin are twins, juniors to Brian by a couple of years. The boys help with the farm, and they take full advantage of the open space. They camp, they hunt, and on occasion, they shoot skeet. Yesterday, they loaded a 410 for me to give a whirl. After three tries it was obvious I hadn’t touched in gun in 30 years (guns scare me more than snakes, and that’s saying a lot). Nevertheless, I’d never shot skeet before, and I’m not one to turn down the chance to try something new. The fact is I couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn let alone a flying disk of clay. Still, I’ve now marked skeet off the bucket list.

But the Terry brothers? They’ve had practice. Lots of practice. There was no small amount of jovial controversy over who hit the pigeon from time to time. While they were practicing their shooting, I was practicing my shooting, too, with the new lens, of course. Far less scary for me. I didn’t know until I got a good look at the images this morning that I had managed to capture the bullets in flight. The conditions were just right: shooting toward the sun against the dark backdrop of the hill at the right time of day made it possible to distinguish them from the surroundings (and a high shutter speed of course).

I learned a lot this weekend. I learned the difference between a shotgun and a rifle (you’d think a country girl would know, but this country girl don’t like guns, so I never bothered to learn the difference). I learned I’ve got a lot to learn about shooting with the new lens. I learned that I rather enjoy shooting skeet. I’d even try it again! I learned that Brian is the keeper of a tasty family recipe tradition. And between all that I was reminded of how proud my family makes me. I wouldn’t trade a single one for all the money in the world, and I wouldn’t change them one ounce. In-laws and outlaws, sinners and saints, they’re every one good people and I’m lucky to call them family.

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