This happened so recently so as to be considered news.

We went shooting Saturday morning.

It was a beautiful morning for shooting guns. So damp and overcast after the storm that the report from the guns reverberated across the cotton field.

Nico had never shot a gun before but she was anxious to try.

Here’s the story I’m able to tell and illustrate with a few photos Mike sent me.

Mike’s role in gun shooting at the Farm has changed. He is now a teacher and a coach. At a later point in the story, you will hear how Mike cheered Nico on. “You can do it. It’s fun!”

Nico worked her way up the calibre ladder beginning with a very pretty .22  with polished wooden handles to this little thing, and beyond, to something we all thought she would enjoy shooting.

Mr. Big Food insisted she try the 12 gauge before she left.

And so we all commenced the task of talking Nico into shooting the shotgun. She was scared. It is too heeavey. What if I can’t do eett? (BTW– she’s Italian so you have to hear it with an Italian accent.)

“Just do it,” I say.

“Just plant it on your shoulder and pull the trigger,” Mr. Big Food says.

“It’s fun!” Mike says.

Repeat repeatedly.

And you know what she said in that second she realized she’d just seen the paper target explode into smithereens?

“That’s fun!”

Keep in mind that Mr. Big Food understands how these things work. He always loads two.

“You can do it again.”

Yeah, yeah. Our stances aren’t perfect and our technique probably leaves something to be desired– though I will say, I saw my target and I was pretty darned pleased with myself. But be that as it is, I have a question for you:

How many of you expert stance folks actually turned someone on to guns this weekend? While emphasizing safety and talking quite a bit about the tool’s mechanisms?