Shooting and Seattle

"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," promises our US  Constitution.  I absolutely believe that this amendment should not be compromised.  Well, it already has.  But what remains of our right to bear arms should be carefully protected.  Of course bearing arms becomes meaningless if we don't know how to use those arms.  For quite awhile Layne has been promising to teach me how to shoot.  Tuesday was our day.  Our neighbors, the Bondersons, have a shooting range, which they invited us to use.  Layne carefully showed me how to load, hold and fire a pistol.   We fired at a paper target, then a soda pop can.   It was a little scary at first to hold and fire a gun.  But with each pull of the trigger it got easier.  Then it got fun.  I'm thinking, with some regular practice, I could really get into this.

I have not returned to my unfinished project of last week.  I'm still not ready to readdress that.  Instead we have filled the week with other, more interesting things.  After a fun experience shooting guns, we packed up and caught a flight to Seattle on Wednesday, after our temple shift.  Daughter Jessica lives there with her family.  As I've explained before, we fly stand-by.  Ordinarily that is a stressful adventure because there is no guarantee that the adventure is actually going to take place.  But when Layne is with me I let go of the stress of it.  Somehow Layne's presence is settling.  We missed our first flight into Seattle.  My stomach was calm.  No problem.  We ate dinner at the airport and tried again.  This time we made the flight and arrived late Wednesday night with no problems except a major loss of sleep, since we arose at 4:30 Wednesday morning.

Layne spent most of the time working on the books for Jessica's bookstore.  Her charming used bookstore is a fun place to hang out, which I did most of the first day.  There was also time to play with the kids.  I like bling.  I'm telling you that because I get way too excited about things that sparkle and glow.  I bought glow bracelets at the dollar store near Jessica's store and decorated the kids' bedrooms with them each night when they went to bed.  Did they get a kick out of it?  Hum.  Not sure.  But I did.  Bling.  That's one of the things I love.  Playing with the kids is another thing.

We got a great visit in with Jessica and a pretty good one with her husband Chris.  One thing about our family that I regret is that we are so emotionally controlled.  Layne and I are both like that so it is the pattern we gave our children.  No alternatives were offered because we didn't know how.  So our children tend to keep strong emotions well in hand.  That's good and bad.  There is little in the way of unpleasantness or emotional explosions in our family, but there is also little sharing of emotions.  I wish that were different.  I think we could be better support for each other if we could share more of our emotional lives with each other.  But I don't know how to do that.  I never shed a tear in public and rarely do in private.  I think that is more of a handicap than an asset but feel powerless to change it.

Daughter Jessica's children below:

 Peyton (soon to be 8)  having fun in dress-ups

Young reader Gemma (12), at work on another book.

 Miles (10) posing for me.

We are home now.  What magic it is to be able to, in a few short hours, bridge the gap between Seattle and Pleasanton.   Isaiah said, "...they come with speed swiftly, none shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed nor the latchet of their shoes be broken...their wheels [shall be] like a whirlwind..." (Isaiah 5:26-28).  Our trip home was like a whirlwind!  We live in amazing times.  I'm grateful.