Dear Diary - Hung over our bar is a small sign that states this. People tend to lose inhibitions and speak more freely under the spell of a few glasses of wine.

Such was the case this last weekend when after a few glasses, my wife of 24 years, who has never allowed firearms into our home (that she knew of) suddenly said that she has fretted about her safety when I'm traveling out-of-town on business, and stated, "Even if I had a pistol, I wouldn't know how to protect myself with it. I should get a pistol and firearms instructions. I would feel better knowing I could protect myself and our family if you're not here."

I was shocked. She has been adamantly opposed for years. My firearms are stored in a safe at a local business, but I have secretly kept two pistols in my home for nearly 20 years and only I know where and how to access them. I have my CCA. I feel really bad that I've had to hide these from her to keep her from being upset, but her opposition was not grounded in reality to the world, but in her fear of guns. I grew up around guns. Everyone in my family went to be trained in safety and participated in shooting competition and shooting clays, as well as hunting.

I asked why this sea change in attitude. She said, "I never thought the world was so fricked up enough that I felt scared for the future. All the crap that's gone down since the pandemic makes me think the chance of it all falling apart is 50/50 and if that happens, whether I live or die depends on how well I can protect myself and my family."

On almost all other ways, she's very conservative, and the gun thing has been the area where we've both disagreed, but a long time ago I determined it would not be something to come between us. Now, she's finally come to realize on her own terms that this is a necessary measure to counter the evil that exists around us.

So last night, on her birthday, I took her to purchase her very own, first pistol and signed her up for private lessons leading to her getting her CCA, which you no longer are required to obtain in Texas, but we regularly go to Oklahoma and Louisiana, both states where they accept the Texas CCA.

I'm bringing this here to the PT because I'm glad that I no longer have to pretend around her that everything is kumbaya. She's the most happy, most positive person I know. Now, she is suddenly worried enough about the state of this country that she's willing to accept what she never believed in before. I think this says a lot about suburban women, in general, and the current state of the country being destroyed by Biden's actions, inactions and policies, as well as the woke judges and prosecutors that turn criminals loose on society to continue their criminal ways without fear of arrest and imprisonment.

When we went to the firearms dealer last night, there was a classroom full of women, maybe 30+, all in their 40's and 50's, taking a group training. There's fear out there. You can feel it in conversations. Whoever runs for president that taps into that fear effectively should win. Let's hope so, anyway.

Sorry for the tl;dr wall of words. Brevity is not my forte'.