illfarmr - 2/25/2021 22:23

Five years ago over the summer, I taught my then nine and six years old granddaughters how to drive over country roads while sitting on my lap. One would drive about fourteen miles, then they switched, and the other drive back. We talked about rules of the road and what rules were different while driving country roads. Because their dad had a gun, and I have several, I added gun safety to the learning schedule.

They took an interest, so at the end of the summer, I bought them each a Cricket Rifle, with the instructions that they couldn’t shoot them until they took the Illinois Youth Hunter’s Safety Class. By the next spring, the older one had other interests, but the then seven year old was still game. So, on a Friday after a full day of school, we spent four hours in class, then another six hours on Saturday, then she took the test. The instructor had told me he didn’t think she could pass the test, but I told him my requirement was that she take the course. She got a perfect score! And last September, with her parents permission, I gave the rifle to her, for them to keep for her. She likes the idea of a shooting scholarship, and really likes the idea of a second scholarship for trap shooting. Whether this becomes a reality or not, I don’t know. But, we both love being together. At eleven,’ she is my buddy. I’ll take that for as long as it lasts, but the teen years are approaching. Whatever happens, I’ll have had her as my buddy for a time.