baby boy

just shot his first deer. Not sure how I feel about it. They just called, apparently he took it in one shot, cleanly. It is a big buck for a little kid, 6-8 points they said.

I am happy for him, and for his Dad, who has been teaching him about hunter safety and respecting the hunt and the animals since birth.

I am sad because a beautiful animal died.

I am happy because the meat will be donated to feed a hungry family.

His voice breaks now when he talks, he is almost taller than I am. And today he shot his first deer. No more baby boy screaming and crying when Dad brings home a deer. He used to cry, telling daddy the deer was "hewt Daddy, wet him go"...so much so that daddy used to take the deer to a friends house because Jesse was SO upset. Now he is fine enough with it to shoot it himself.

I asked him last night, driving home from football, if he was sure he was ready to kill a living thing. He looked at me like I was crazy. "You dont have to do it just because dad loves hunting, y'know" He replied "Mom, *I* love hunting too." So there it is. No more baby boy. Almost a man.