Sorry about the Children's comment, it's just that I talk about it without thinking anymore because it's been part of our lives for the past year. So with that I'll explain a little more. She was 15 when we found out she had Hodgkin's Lymphoma and luckily it was caught in an early stage (stage 2a). I also have a son that was 13 at the time and my wife was 11 months pregnant with our third child. Needless to say it was a very hard time for all of us. Our second son was born while my daughter was in between her first and second chemo's. so even though it was a very bright spot in a dark time for us, it was nonetheless bitter sweet. My daughter had four cycles of chemo. at Children's and fourteen low doses of radiation and James Cancer Hospital. Her cancer went into remission after the first two chemos. and she has had a very good response after all of her treatments were complete. The trip we made today was a follow-up visit for a CT and physical which the preliminary results were once again very good. She missed almost a whole year of school but has always been an excellent student and was able to make up all of her work and returned for the last three months of the school year. She is doing very, very well and we have pretty much gotten on with our lives. She will have to go every three months for the next four to five years to make sure the cancer stays in remission and after that she will be considered cured. When we first found out, I told everyone that cancer took my father from us when I was only five and I would NOT let it take her. I thank GOD everyday for the gifts he has given us in this past year and always will.
At the time all of this was going on, I knew that I as well as my older son needed to do something other than worry all of the time and that's when I got both of us back into the gun scene. It was to be a distraction but only lead to an addiction once again.
One of my fondest memories when I was 14 was the fact my mother purchased me a Colt SP-1 and I loved that rifle, so I decided to go the way of the AR-15 because it was a gun I knew and after finding this site early on, I realized how much popularity it had taken on. Since then we have purchased two M4 type rifles, mags, ammo. etc. and have enjoyed countless hours shooting them together. A few months ago he traded his Walther P22 in on a HK USP 9mm and every since I had the pleasure to shoot one of these fine pistols I have had the hunger for one of the .45 USP models. So.......
once we finished at the hospital, we went to the Easton mall (well the wife/daughter/baby) did, my older son and I went to Dick's and looked around. While there I remembered that
mywifehatesguns had mentioned Vance's and asked one of the clerks where it was. As soon as I realized how close it was we headed right over. Now understand the fact that down here in SE Ohio the local gun shops have very little to offer in way of onsite inventory so when we walked into Vance's our mouths began to water. 10-20 AR's in the back.....holster's....HK 91.....BIG selection of HK and KIMBER pistols.....Aimpoint's.....NOW THIS IS WHAT A GUNSHOP IS SUPPOSED TO BE!
By this time of the day, everyone else had spent their fair share of cash and it was my turn.
My son kept pushing me towards the Aimpoint M3 (@ $499)...although tempting.....uhhh no. Then there was a KIMBER Raptor (@ $1,299)....oh $hIt...I'll never be able to justify that.
Then finally there it was a HK USP 45 (@ $799)... oh man I thought, that's the pistol I have been wanting and after a little dickering we agreed to a price. I also got some Hornady .45 TAP for it, a holster, Blackhawk belt for my son, and finally a 100 rnd. bag of 5.56mm green tips. So all I can say is a BIG thanks to
mywifehatesguns, you helped me to get a little more in debt
, but it was worth it. (At least for now...I haven't got to shoot the pistol yet!)
Thanks once again to everyone for the suggestions and maybe next time I'll have to check out those other places.