Hi tfish! I'm just jumping around, trying to catch up on all the MLC threads. One thing that jumps out at me is how very similar all the stories are, in spite of the differences.
I'm sorry you're here, too. This is crushing and so hard to understand. My plan is to learn all I can, and be patient. It's not like I'm in any hurry to move on and do something else. This whole experience has crushed me - I have lots of healing to do.
If it is any consolation at all, I come from a military family. Gun ownership was almost a rite of passage between father and sons in every generation. I hate the things, but have spent my entire life around them. Even my boys have them, but they did have to attend gun safety classes, in addition to what they were taught. It seems like the military dads do a good job of passing along the "rules". They teach the way they were taught.
In our family, the guns only came out of the safe for gun ranges or hunting trips. Yes - I was on pins and needles the entire time - but my boys! Oh, how they loved those trips with dad. It was definitely a male-bonding kind of thing.
