Hunting

How many of you hunt? Or lives with someone who does? Well, I'm sure it comes as no surprise to you that we don't. I've never really been around hunters. I hear lots of stories of my father and grandfather going hunting for various things, but most of that happened before I was born or when I was very young. Don't get me wrong: I'm not against it. It's just not a part of my life. Or my children's lives. (I'm getting to my point...don't worry)

Fast-forward to last week. Brady comes up to me and asks if he could go and spend the night with his best friend. I love that he has a true best friend now. I can tell that Brady will be like me and have a close handful of really good friends rather than lots of different acquaintances. But I digress. Anyway, Brady's best friend asked him to go dove hunting this past weekend. He comes to me (very hopeful) and asks if he can go. I can tell that he's unsure of what my response will be. Brady is very aware of my empathy with animals and I am always stating how we should never hurt them. Plus, his statement of .. "they showed me how to use a shotgun last time I was over there" did not exactly fill me with confidence. Although, Brady has had a good education regarding guns thanks to my father (who collects them). I smiled and said "sure honey, go ahead and have fun". You can tell he was really surprised. My thought was that this was a new experience and it would be good for him. After all, it's not something we'll be doing here, so why not? As long as they were with responsible people, who am I to say no? And Scot and I have never said anything against hunting. I think my dad was giving him pointers...

Well, Scot and I discussed what Brady's reaction to hunting would be. Brady is fairly empathetic and sensitive and he has never been hunting. I had a very difficult time picturing him taking a gun and actually shooting a bird. It just doesn't mesh with his personality. But maybe we were wrong, I told Scot. Maybe we can't picture it because we've never done it. I was very careful to keep my thoughts to myself in the days leading up to this trip. I wanted to truly know what his reaction would be without the influence of his parents.

Anyway, when Scot went to pick him up, he spoke with the father. He reported that Brady elected to just "sit and watch" the entire time. Although they offered to let him shoot, he decided not to. Brady reports that he had a very good time and even ate a BBQ sandwich (which is an entirely different post- why will this child eat things at his friends house that he won't touch at mine?)! But all I could think of when I heard this was... "That's my boy".