Men in Tights

*Facebook 3/26 - Today's events include (so far) a Girl Scout cooking event followed by watching my children shoot large stuffed animals with bows and arrows. Next up, houses that fly away and red, sequined shoes? Not quite used to this yet...

When Bill and I were “extreme long-distance” dating (read: talking on the phone 5 hours a night, texting all day and going broke flying back and forth across the country), I often imagined him in tights.  Yup, tights.  You see, Bill is an archer..er.  archer?  Archery-er?  Bill shoots things with a bow and arrow.  After I wrapped my East Coast-raised, hippie-parented brain around the shooting part, I had to deal with my preconceived image of what an archer looked like.  Robin Hood. 

 

In addition to tights, I also imagined that the bow Bill was using looked exactly like the cartoon version of Robin Hood’s bow: one string, curved wooden handle.  My sheltered imagination was not prepared for the shockingly dangerous looks of Bill’s actual bow – a compound bow (read: lots of bells and whistles, gears and moving parts, many strings, steel bar).  He laughed when I told him about my Robin Hood image of him, and then promptly dressed himself head to toe in camouflage and left with his big ole bow and a container of $100 arrows to go sit halfway up a tree in subzero weather waiting for Bambi.  (Sorry, judgmental.  I’m still working on accepting the part where Bambi dies. If you think  I’M having trouble with this, you should have seen my New York City grandmother’s face when she walked into our basement for the first time and saw the deer and antelope heads hanging on the wall.  She’s lucky - when I first visited him at his “bachelor pad,” those heads were hanging next to the front door!)

       

*Facebook 9/24 Am I the only one who desperately wants to play hide and seek when someone puts on camo?

I am getting used to seeing him in his hunting garb and the bow doesn’t scare me anymore.  I close my eyes when I go into the basement so as to not make eye contact with the dead animals.  But there is nothing that could have prepared me for the sight of my own pretty-in-pink daughter pulling the string back on her very own bow last week at the archery club shoot out.   Hannah’s long blond ponytail swung side to side as she closed one beautiful eye and looked through her sights.  Her pink fleece stood out in stark contrast to the men and boys around her in their camo outfits.  Then she drew back, and SHOT THE ARROW RIGHT INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE (foam) BEAR!  Have you ever felt scared, surprised, shocked and proud at the same time?  Wow.

     

*Facebook 3/29 Quote from Hannah, you know, the one who wears pink every single day of her life?  “Look mom!  I shot the bear right in the vital organs!”  Where am I? What is going on?  (It was a foam bear and a bow and arrow.)

 

Sam has also become very involved in the archery club.  When he told me last summer that he wanted to try, I thought it was a pretty expensive “phase,” but I went along with it.  He was taking the old, “When in Rome…” mentality and I thought it would be a great place for him to make friends. (But not with the deer, I guess.)  Sam is not known for an especially long attention span – nor am I – but he was dedicated to the project.  All summer we found him practicing in the backyard, shooting at targets, trees and usually not his siblings.  He is good!  Even Bill was impressed.  When he went to the end-of-the-year shoot out at archery club, (Yes, there’s a building on Main Street in our town devoted entirely to bow shooting.) Sam decided to shoot with the Young Adults instead of the Cubs as his 12^th and defining birthday was right around the corner.  His score would have won the Cub division, and wasn’t good enough to place in Young Adult, but once again he managed to impress me with his dedication to this new activity and his willingness to challenge himself.   His most impressive achievement of the year, however, was when he shot a bull’s-eye and then shot another arrow right into the first one.  An expensive accomplishment, as it ruined both arrows, but his face when he presented me with the two joined arrows: priceless.  “Mom! Mom!  Guess what this is called?!  A Robin Hood!” 

      

I’m not looking forward to mounting any dead animals,  and to be honest, I’m not sure I’ll ever actually let them go on a real hunt, but I’m proud of my children for trying something new and totally out of their East Coast element.  And as for Robin Hood, my patient husband, I love watching him bond with my children, even if it is over weapons, targets and camouflage.  I love watching his prideful look when they do well at something he taught them, and I love that he has never and (I predict) will never, wear tights.

© Jody Hoffman 2011

Comments

[Pat]

My favorite story so far!!!!!!

[Clayton Thomas]

Loved the post. It's cool for kids to be involved in their dad's passion. Stay safe though!!!

Clayton
http://www.claytonpaulthomas.com

[Marthamormon]

I have to admit, my mind is reeling a little at the thought of you even letting Little Hannah shoot a bow and arrow, let alone her doing it! That is so AWESOME!!! Remember, this is coming from the one who was the first girl to shoot a clay pidgeon in P.E.--wearing a dress no less! Love ya! Keep 'em coming!

[One Blonde]

LOL thats awesome! I'm w/you thou I'm from Jersey so the whole bambi thing doesn't sit well w/me either.
As long as its fake i'm totally cool w/it thou. I can't wait to see what else my little one wants to get into when she gets a bit older. Daddy is not an outdoorsman, more a computer nerd, so being only 5 she already knows how to turn the computer on & connect to the network & everything.
Anywho's I'm you're newest GFC follower nice to meet ya!