Giving Thanks

When looking back at my shooting career, it’s easy to forget some of the most important influences in my life.

I’d like to thank my parents. Neither of them shoots. They don’t own any guns. My mother, a diehard Massachusetts Democrat, tried in vain to keep me from even having toy guns when I was a kid. I never owned an airgun or bb gun. When my grandfather brought me home from the Lee Five and Dime with my first cowboy cap gun, I thought she was going to have a stroke. But my folks made all sorts of major decisions about our lives as I was growing up that I didn’t realize or understand until much later. We always lived in places with great public school districts… even if it meant my father had to endure long commutes or we had to live farther from relatives than my mother would have liked. They always encouraged me without being the “soccer Monday, tap lessons Tuesday, Japanese horticulture Wednesday” type who force their kids to be busy so much they never get a chance to be themselves. They helped put me through college and gave me (and my girlfriend, now wife) a place to live while I was in school. When I got involved in the firearms industry, they supported me as much as if I’d joined any other profession. Heck, Mom even lets me bring guns into her house now! While people say things like this all the time, I know that my parents would literally give up everything for me.

I’d like to thank my wife. When we met in college, I told her my career goal was to be a Supreme Court Justice. To say that my life has taken a major turn from that direction would be an obvious understatement. But she’s still here more than twenty years later. When I was spending our limited food & rent budget on ammo during school, she put up with it. When I took a low paying job in the industry rather than put my law degree to use, she put up with it. When I was going to the range six times a week and almost never spending time at home, she put up with it (ok, that part might have actually been a blessing for her). When she wrote a check to pay back my law school loans each month — while I was off blasting through another $100 of ammo at the range with a buddy — she never complained. When I decided to start my own business in a volatile segment of the industry, she supported me. There is absolutely no way I would be where I am today without her. She puts up with the travel, listening to me drone on about Glock ejectors during dinner, cases and cases of ammunition stacked up in our living room, our bedroom being turned into an office, our den being turned into a workshop, half of our kitchen being turned into a storage area… all while working in a high stress job of her own where she is, in her own right, a well known and highly regarded leader in her professional community.

As I write this, a friend calls to ask what I’m doing Saturday morning because a bunch of guys are getting together for some fun on a private range. The wife and I already have plans, but I know she’ll understand so…

ToddG