A Bald Eagle, a Beautiful Sunrise, and a Shotgun

On Friday evening, I sat with several coworkers in the dining hall, waiting for the board retreat events to begin. On the menu were fried fish, hush puppies, a salad bar, and desert.

The dining hall looks out onto a 360-acre spring fed lake, and as we ate, a gigantic bird flew past the windows 40 feet or so above the water. My colleague, Andy, pointed it out to us, saying that what had just flown by was "our" bald eagle.

Bald Eagles:

MO=1; NY=0

***

Because board retreat activities were going fairly late Friday night, I stayed at the Lodge. I woke up the next morning to this view outside my room:

Beautiful sunrises over lakes:

Mo=1; NY=0

***

On Saturday afternoon, the board was invited to participate in a trap and skeet range orientation. Since I've been trying to do as many of the activities at work as I can, I decided to tag along.

I grew up around guns, but I had never taken gun safety, and had never shot a shotgun. During the hourlong gun safety course we took, I learned about the parts of the gun, the rules of responsible gun handling, and the meanings of some common firearm jargon.

Watching the instructor (who also happens to be one of my bosses) handle the three shotguns (none loaded) that were part of the safety course, I had butterflies in my stomach. 

I haven't been around guns in a long time, and my liberal-leaning New-Yorker-self was starting to question whether I really wanted to handle one.

I stayed back, watching the board members and their families try their hands with shooting trap. Finally, though, all of the other people had taken their turn, and a few people turned to me, expectantly. I looked around, realizing that I was the only person left to shoot, and stood up to try shooting the 20-gauge shotgun. 

The kick on the 20-gauge wasn't as bad as I'd expected it to be, but the gun itself was a lot heavier than I was prepared for. My left arm, on which most of the weight of the gun was resting, was almost shaking after five shots, and it's still a little sore today.

I guess I was proud of myself for trying something that scared me. I would have been perfectly comfortable never having that shtogun in my hands, but I didn't let myself stay scared. 

I missed every one of the five clays I was shooting at, but I learned new things and overcame what I hadn't even recognized before then was a fear of mine in handling firearms.

Firearms aren't a subject for light-hearted conversation, so I'm not giving this experience points in my tongue-and-cheek MO vs. NY battle.

***

I will, however, chalk one up for the trails outside the office. After finishing up at the trap and skeet range, I took a jog on the trails, and left work to head home for the rest of the weekend.

Trails outside the office:

MO = 1; NY = 0