Friends.

Just wanted to share my moms latest email update, it's beautiful and really gets down to who and what are most important in life:

Men- I have been fascinated with them for years.They get a bad rap at times. The men in my life however are extraordinary. The men in Paul's life can not even be put into words. Paul's friends have stuck by him for these two years as if he was their only mission in life. They take him out , they call him ( not on his phone, but mine) they stop by and visit, they bring him goodies, they take him fishing , and they take him hunting. The last is what I want to talk about now.
For those of you who don't hunt, I will try to explain a few things. No one just walks into the woods and kills a deer. You scope it out, read the signs, pick a spot, clear your shooting lane, bait the spot, etc,. etc., etc. You get my drift right? Well Gary has been for 2 years keeping Paul's spots ready for him. Its a full time job. He has been waiting until Paul can hunt with him like last year, but alas this year he still isn't quite ready for those deer stands . Gary keeps at it though, because if and when Paul is ready he wants everything to be just right.
Yesterday , Jason , whose father hunts from a deer blind on the ground, called me and asked if Paul would like to go hunt today. I had to work today, so I needed to ask Joe King to take him and buy him his permit. Joe showed up and took him to Just Sports and they got all the necessary paper work. Then they came home and tried to get Paul's gear together. Paul hasn't used his muzzle loader in 2 years, so he got confused and frustrated trying to get it together. Joe tried hard , but he couldn't help. Paul was really dejected ,but I came out and told him to walk away from it and we would deal with it later.
At that point I was feeling like I needed a miracle or it would back fire and turn this into a negative experience. I texted Jason, he said if they couldn't figure it out he could just use his gun. So we were back on track.
When Jason called after work to say he was ready i woke Paul up and helped him get into some warm clothes. He wanted to wear all his camo hunting clothes , but they were a little snug ,and I convinced him that he didn't need them since he would be in a blind anyway.
When I dropped him off all I could think about was the emotions i went through sending Cailin off to kindergarten. You kiss them, tell them to listen to the teacher ( Jason in this case) remind them to be quiet ( He's sometimes a little loud because he's uncomfortable) and you just want the best for them. I cried the whole way home saying over and over, "please let him get a deer, please let him get a deer." Mostly I cried because I can't believe how good his friends are. Jason gave up a day of hunting to just sit with him and watch him and make sure he was safe. 10 people at least text me to see how he was doing just because they care.If deer could drop dead from prayer, Paul could have killed a herd.Everyone wanted him to get one.
Well , he didn't get a deer , but they saw plenty. A buck needs to have at least 3 points on one side to be legal, so they had to let a few go , but Paul walked 150 yards to and from the blind, and he stayed quiet, and he listened to Jason, and he propped his borrowed gun on his cane, while sitting in his office swivel chair, and he came home smiling, so that was a successful hunt.
Jason is going to take him again later this week. In January Cailin and I will take him to Dude's , as will several other people. Life is what you make it. And we are making ours good.
It gets even better. Paul came home with Jason and we had a venison feast with Capt. Timmy.So he got to talk about it all over again. Tomorrow Jay Hallus will come by for breakfast. We can't wait.Toni come over if you want (around 10:30)
Men, can't live without 'em. Thanks you to all the men in our lives. You astound me. love, doreen

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