Several months ago I bought my dad a Px4 Storm, and he has yet to get to shoot it. So we took it out and gave it a whirl. I'm not sure if my mother had ever shot a gun before, but I can pretty much guarantee that she'll never do it again. I gave everyone a brief safety and shooting lesson, then put them on the line and let them go. Mom went first. She did everything right and followed all the rules without hesitation. And then we wait, and we wait, and we wait, as she pulls the long double action trigger at a snail's pace. Finally she pulls the dang thing, fires off one shot, (I think she screamed), threw the gun down on the bench, and ran out of the room. I followed her out into the holding area, where she explains to me (while still covering her ears, which were well covered by her hearing protection) that "I saw flames! There were flames everywhere!" I convinced her to come back in for a second, but she lasted only long enough to get the keys and go hide in the car for the rest of the hour. (I did attempt to explain to her that there is something called a muzzle flash, but that there weren't really FLAMES shooting everywhere. But she didn't believe me.) Next up was my brother Scott. And holy cow can the kid shoot. He picks up the gun, points down range, and fires off 10 shots, perfect center of mass, like he's done this a hundred times before. He says he owes it all to video games. I refuse to comment further on that theory. My dad wasn't quite the natural Scott is on the trigger, but did pretty well for his first time out to a range in 30 years, and his first time on that gun.
Following that fun, I made the trek from Fredericksburg back home to good old Northern Virginia in is some pretty heinous traffic. I95 was a total parking lot, so I pulled off and headed for the backroads on Rt 1. To continue my truly Erin day, I enjoyed some flirtatious text messaging, and then phone calls to my two favorite girls, Sisty Ugler and Jules (who are currently in a pretty good debate in the comments section of my polygamy post).
And then, right in front of me, there was a huge 4 car accident. It was total bedlam as two of the cars were pickup trucks with their beds full of crap. Debris goes flying everywhere, and the cars are just smashed up. So I called 911 within 30 seconds of the accident happening, rushed out of my car, and got to be the first Fire Fighter/EMT on the scene. 4 cars, 5 patients. Thankfully only 1 patient was very injured, and the rest were just good and rattled.
From there I rushed straight to a singles activity at the church where (amongst other things) we played Settlers of Catan, which is one of my all-time loves in life.
Horseback riding, shooting, fire fighting, and Settlers all in one day. That is what I call an Extremely Me Day.