A Religious Experience

Here in the South, we do everything with a little extra flair. Many of our deep-seated traditions are more of a religious experience than merely an activity. Take college football for instance...if you have ever been to a night time rivalry game in the stadium of a major Southern university, then you know exactly what I am talking about. We take these things seriously...about as seriously as we take church and you know us Southerners and our church :)

Hunting is another one of those religious experiences of the South. I'm sure that some people (the Yankees that is) think that is appalling to allow a child to shoot a gun. However, that is just part of growing up in the South. From a very young age, we all learn how to fish, hunt, understand football, and pray to God that we can be successful in all these things. I feel like this partly comes from our ancestors who had to rely on hunting and harvesting to survive. To this day, we still pray for a good hunt, a good fishing trip or for our team to win the game.

There is just something about being out in the woods hunting with the bird dogs that feels so peaceful. I can't even begin to explain it. I love being out in nature, so far away from the real world, where there is nothing else to think about or do but simply be in that moment appreciating the things that surround you.

I like taking pictures of my hubby while he hunts. He hates it, but too bad.

This past weekend, we had out first quail hunt of the season. I was very excited about this hunt, but a little nervous because I did not know how I was going to react to hunting this time. This was the first time I had been hunting since my dad passed away in July. I knew this would be tough because hunting was something that my dad taught me how to do and something that we loved to do together. I was also a little apprehensive about this hunt due to the circumstances in which my dad passed. This would be the first time I held a gun in my hand since his suicide and I didn't know how I was going to react to that at first.

I was pleasantly surprised that I did not get emotional, and nothing about hunting made me feel uncomfortable. I have been exposed to and respecting guns since I was a little kid, and hunting is just part of my life. Nothing will ever change that. If nothing else, hunting is even more special to me now because it feels like I am honoring my dad's memory when I am out there. He is out there in the woods with me every time,  whether I can see him or not.

We had a great hunt that day and I am thankful that I get to spend these special moments with my husband, my brother and my sister-in-law. I am especially thankful that even after all these years, my brother and I can still enjoy doing the things that we learned from our dad together.

At the end of our hunt, the owner of the preserve asked if she could take a group photo of us with our dogs to put on their website. So we posed, took our picture and went home. Later that day, she sent me the picture. My first reaction to seeing the picture was, "why did I leave that awkward space between Melissa and I? I should have moved over and stood next to her". I wasn't even thinking about where I was standing while we were taking the picture. That night, I looked at the picture again and realized why I subconsciously left that empty space in the middle of our picture. I left a spot for my dad.