My dad was the guy who taught me to ride a bike, and more importantly, he taught me how to handle and properly use a firearm. He was an Army marksman who missed becoming a sniper by only a couple of points on the qualifying test.
He last visited Alaska one year ago this month. As I posted at the time, I took him to the range. He was all but unable to use the .38 Spcl snubbie due to arthritis which kept him from pulling the double-action trigger. He did finally fire the thing, but couldn't control it.
But ...
But that man, who was 81 years old at the time, picked up my 1911 and - not having touched a pistol in well over 20 years - showed me how it's done. I had been practicing and was achieving consistent 2 1/2" groups at 7 yards.
He put 9 shots in 1 1/2", before running through another 25 rounds. Looked at me and grinned, he did, and said, "That was fun." And grinned even bigger.
That was my dad.
Psalm 22:27-28: “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and he ruleth among the nations.”
12 comments:
Great story.
God bless him.
What Bob and North said!
One of my regrets is never shooting as an adult with my Dad.
Dads are awesome :)
What a wonderful memory. I am so pleased you shared that moment in time Paul. I am so very sorry for your loss. There are no words to console at this time so I will just say, remember the range and smile my friend.
Sandi
That is a pretty neat story...what a great memory!
Nice memory and great story.
I had no idea that Uncle W. was in the Army, let alone the fact that he was a crack shot...probably a lot that I never knew about the man.
Lorri
That's awesome! God bless him =)
Your dad sounds like a great Southern man.
Paul, it's been very hard keeping up with things the last week, but I'm ashamed to find that I haven't been by to leave my condolences.
This post in particular hit pretty close to home, making me think about the things I did with my Dad near the end of his life. Thank you for that gift.
I wish I knew what else to add to ease your loss. A commenter at my place mentioned Shakespeare, and how anyone can master a grief except for he who has it.
Your Dad sounds like a man I would have liked to know.
Thank you, everyone. BP, I suspect he'd have been the first to extend his hand to you, and make a new friend. He was like that.
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