Bringing Out the Big Guns

I’m a firm believer in couples having shared interests, things they love to do together. But I think it’s also important for them to have interests of their own—hobbies and activities that can rejuvenate them when they’re apart so they can come back together and be more relaxed and ready to focus on one another.

Jon and I have shared interests and those we like to do on our own. However, for the last several months Jon has wanted me to participate with him in one of his activities—target shooting, something I haven’t been very excited about.

“It’s date night at the range on Friday,” Jon would often say. “There are a lot of couples who go together.”

“How nice for them!” I would respond. “I hope they thoroughly enjoy their time together.”

After a while, Jon quit asking, but I knew it was something he still wanted to do. So in the spirit of taking risks, I agreed to go to the range last Friday.

Can I just say this was s-o-o-o out of my comfort zone? I had visions of headlines the next day: “Wife Accidently Shoots Husband” and “Date Night at the Range Goes Horribly Wrong.”

After watching a short safety video (which gave me NEW fears, thank you very much. Was I going to be the one that caused the range officers to call out “cease fire”? Would I commit a horrible breach of range etiquette?), we put on our protective eyewear and headphones and stepped into the shooting lane area . . . where we were the ONLY ones there! Can I get a hallelujah?!

Not having anyone there to witness my discomfort other than the range officer helped tremendously. exactly where close to where I was aiming. Now, the target was only three feet away at the time, but it gave me a little more confidence to keep trying. After Jon and the range officer gave me some pointers, I moved the target farther away and tried again . . . and hit it close to where I thought I was aiming. A success! (My worst mishap was having a spent shell go down the front of my shirt.) After we were done, we went out for some great burgers and mouth-watering parmesan truffle fries.

Jon had me shoot first, and I was able to hit the target,

I can’t say I enjoyed myself so much that I plan to go to the range every week or even every month. It was okay. The best part was seeing how happy it made Jon that I decided to go with him—not that he expects me to love everything he loves. That’s not the case at all. But my husband travels quite a bit, and he takes the responsibility to care for our family quite seriously. He wants to make sure we’re safe when he’s gone and having me become more comfortable with firearms gives him a greater peace of mind.

Another aspect of all of this is just the pleasure of putting aside my own personal interests in favor of someone else. I did this to please my husband, my best friend, and that was a whole lot of fun.

All those times that Jon would ask me to go to the range, I would say that I’d go when he would come scrapbooking with me. There’s a scrap day at church this Saturday. Do you think I should save him a table?