A girly kinda girl from Texas

[Laelith]

So if you'd have told me a year ago that I'd one day be interested in posting in a forum with a name like Combat Carry....well, you know, insert all the cliched stuff here.

My husband of 30 years was a Recon Marine. One of our sons is a Marine who has just returned safely from his tour of duty in Iraq, thank God. My dad, grandfather and brother were all Navy and my father-in-law retired from the Air Force. I'm a native Texan and grew up with Texas ways and Texas men. I'm quite at home with the military, the necessary need for the use of force at times, and have a life-long familiarity with weapons in the home.

But I'm a real girly kind of girl. I was a stay-at-home mom for a lot of years, quite sheltered and naive, and with an unrealistic world view. I am a sensitive, ultra feminine woman and my family has always considered me "the fragile one." Here I am in mid-life, three boys grown and (almost) out of the house and I find myself morphing into an entirely different person than the one I've been for the whole of my life.

Something happened to me after 9/11 and after some personal life events shook me out of my stupor. Suffice it to say that, like a lot of women in their mid-forties, I have stepped into my own skin and have owned my life. There's a lot of changes going on with me, not the least of which is my own sense of identity and self-empowerment.

I'm a warm, intelligent woman with a lot of wisdom to my credit. I've got some good karma or something going on, and as much as life can suck sometimes, I find that doors are opening for me on many fronts. This includes a new career began three years ago that has thrust me into the fast paced, corporate world where I am having to step up to the plate and be more confident and self-sufficient than I've ever been in my life. I didn't know I had it in me. I'm not sure anyone did. I was always content to let someone else have the reins and direct my path.

Like a lot of parents, I have become a better person for the sake of my kids. Every move toward refinement or improved character or making good choices in life, first began with thoughts of those three boys who have now grown into amazing men. As I struggle to live my life in front of them and help them find their own value and strength in this crazy world, I have found my own.

The sound of my own voice counseling them regarding the absolute necessity of personal responsibility, of living life aware, awake and in control of one's choices and destiny, has come full circle to rest upon my own shoulders with a little shake and a resounding DUH!! Laugh.

Who me?

There's a lot of craziness out there. A lot of craziness. I never want to be in the position to have to wait on someone else to take care of me, protect me or direct my actions. I do not want to be that person in a restaurant or on the streets or in a carjacking or a terrorist incident who must sit huddled and fearful wishing someone else would take action.

My life is mine. I have worked hard for it and have risen above much that could have laid me low and kept me there. I have pruned myself into a decent human being and no one is going to step into that and say they will take over from here, and do as they wish with what is mine. They may think they see a pretty, middle-aged woman, soft and gentle, and on the move toward her Grandma years but that will blow up in their face and their ears and their bodily functions if they mess with me or mine. I never want someone else to have to be in the position of having to take care of me when they need to be free to take care of themselves.

I have never enjoyed firearms or shooting. I don't like loud noises. I hate, hate, hate being startled or stressed. I was never one of the girls tagging along to the pond or the range when the men went to shoot. Whenever my husband showed me how to handle a weapon in case I ever needed it for home defense, I listened because I had to but it did not catch my interest or ignite a sense of personal responsibility.

That has changed drastically for me in the past year or so. The escalation of an entitlement mentality in American society, the rise of terrorism around the world, and a deeper sense of self and maturity has changed my personality and my world view. A son sent into harm's way for a world that has always been a couple of bubbles off plumb capped it for me and catapulted me into a whole new level of life awareness.

I have taken my CHL course and expect to be licensed by the end of the year. I shoot a Bersa 380 but find I'm much more accurate with my husband's Kimber 45. This is all new to me so I will take it one step at a time until I find my comfort zone. The choice to become proficient with a firearm and to get a CHL is one of many avenues I am taking to be a more self-reliant individual and citizen. Educating myself and interacting with others who also take this responsibility seriously is something I'm very much looking forward to.

And yes, I'm always this wordy. I'm a thinker and a writer. But I promise not to be this chatty in the forum. I'm here to listen and learn.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Bud White]

Welcome ...


Yes i'm usually this wordy also

[Laelith]

Thanks much. Glad to meet a kindred spirit. :p

[Bud White]

Also that is a Neat avatar

[Rhome]

Welcome,Laelith from CA , enjoyed reading your thread.
Best,
Rhome

[dr_cmg]

Welcome from Alabama. Congratulations on your awakening. Within the past year my wife has gone through an awakening herself. She now carries a SIG P239 in .357SIG and shoots whatever is in her hand. She started with a Bersa .380 as well. It is now her bedroom gun. She is also one who is easily startled. She jumps when the telephone rings, but put the hearing protection on and she relishes shooting.

We shoot almost every weekend. She fires everything from a .22 to a .45. Tomorrow she will fire a .357 magnum for the first time. No problem. She is looking forward to firing a .44 magnum. I think she shoots my 10mm best. By the way it doesn't matter what she shoots she always shoots better than I do. Do I mind that? Not in the least, it takes away some of my worry.

I am wordy, too.

[riversdaddy]

It's great to see people step up to the plate and take care of themselves. Thats the sort of attitude that made this country great. If we don't keep that independant streak alive in ourselves and our children we may lose the unique aspects of our country that we love and that set us apart from the rest of the the world . Welcome to the forum, and remember to always be an ambassador for the RKBA. We need more strong mothers/women like yourself to legitimize our cause to the masses.

[Pickpocket]

Holy crap that's a hell of an intro....

Welcome aboard, Mrs. Texas girly-girl; and a big SF to you and yours.

[soonerjh]

Hello Laelith, welcome to the forum!

[swiftyjuan]

Another welcome from California! Ditto on the avatar....

[rocky]

welcome

[Team American]

The choice to become proficient with a firearm and to get a CHL is one of many avenues I am taking to be a more self-reliant individual and citizen.

Laelith, this statement could apply to every member of this board..

Welcome to the forum!...

[jowgafist]

Welcome Laelith...Geez, any longer of a post I would have had to make some popcorn :P

[PatrioticRick]

Welcome Laelith from eastern Idaho. Nice intro

[afeazell21]

Welcome from Central Texas