M-Taliesin
Regular Member
Howdy Folks!
I did today what I've done for others who were nervous about OC'ing for the first time, despite what everybody might say about being okay in Colorado. Sometimes it helps a newbie to spend an afternoon in the company of another OC'er who's done it awhile to feel more comfortable about their own move to take up OC.
Today was another opportunity for me to help a newcomer to OC by having him tag along with me while I ran some errands I wanted to do today. porterhouse83 is a really decent young man who makes a significant contribution to our community. I won't go into details because his charitable work is his thing if he should wish to discuss it openly, but I was personally impressed with him. He was nervous and I could understand that from my own experience when I started OC. Now, of course, I don't even think on it because it is now normalized behavior for me, but it wasn't so long ago that I've forgotten the butterflies I felt when I walked out my front door OC'ing for the first few times. Especially the first few times that I walked into banks!
So I met up with him and his very lovely lady at Denny's out west of here. We chatted merrily over coffee, and at one point, an older couple from the next booth over came by and asked some questions about service of process. They'd overheard me talking about it and wanted to know some specifics. Be that as it may, they were not at all alarmed about our sidearms. Nor was anybody else at Dennys either.
porterhouse83's lady left us after Dennys because she had some sort of school work to complete and the two of us gentlemen went off to run some errands.
First stop was at King Soopers, and this particular one was pretty darn large. We moved through the store as I shopped for a few items I wanted and had a fun time with the cashier trying to check out my goodies while I spoke to her in sign language for the deaf. I detected from her speaking voice that she was either hard of hearing or outright deaf, and quickly learned that she is deaf. I carried on a brief conversation with her in sign language (my first language) and as we exited the store, my companion wanted to know where I learned ASL. I explained that my mother was deaf, so I grew up with sign language as a primary language.
Anyhow, next stop was at Bellco Federal Credit Union. I needed to make a deposit, ask about arranging for autopayment of my car loan, and to verify account balances in various accounts I have there. Porterhouse83 was a bit skeptical about walking into a bank OC, but I told him it was just fine and not to worry. I did my business with the teller and left everybody in the bank laughing as we continued our outing to Target.
At Target, I looked at cameras, video gear I am lusting over, and DVDs. Seems porterhouse83 and I have similar tastes in movies. Anyhow, we spent quite a while in Target before heading out to take a ride up to Central City and Blackhawk.
My aim was to show my new friend some of the places up there that are special to Colorado history in general and to myself in particular. We toured the old ghost town of Nevadaville, and followed a few roads higher up just to see where they went. Since I have me a newly purchased Jeep, I figured I could handle any roads up there, or lack thereof, with relative ease.
From there, we travelled back down to Idaho Springs via the "Oh My God Road". I think they've modified the road over the past few years to make it less intimidating for pilgrims, but got the impression once or twice that my passenger was not completely comfortable with how close I came to the edge. Gravel road, no guard rails, and several thousand feet worth of vertical drop if we should go over the edge. It probably didn't help for me to keep crowding the edge and pointing out how far to the bottom of the canyon it was, but he survived the trip none the worse for wear. After we got down to Idaho Springs, having seen the old Clear Creek gold mining district, I decided on an impromptu visit to an actual gold mine so my friend could see what those old timers dealt with to pull riches from the rocks! We took a tour of the Phoenix Mine, and enjoyed learning more about gold mining from a gentleman who truly knows his stuff.
After that, it was time to drop back down to the city and drop him off while I headed back toward Aurora. Returning home, I could have kicked myself for leaving my camera behind!!!!! It was a beautiful day, and a terrific outing!
As he was getting out, he thanked me for taking time to help him ease into OC, and said he felt much more comfortable and confident. I believe he'll be OC'ing on his own from here on in, and glad that I could help him over that first hurdle. We'd OC'd everywhere we went for the entire afternoon, and I was also happy to answer questions he had about specific issues he found confusing.
Point being, it doesn't hurt to help others along. It helps our movement grow. The more folks we bring along to enjoy their rights, the fewer there will be to attempt denying those rights. The tyranny of the many can best be defeated by our no longer being content to be few any longer.
Blessings,
M-Taliesin
I did today what I've done for others who were nervous about OC'ing for the first time, despite what everybody might say about being okay in Colorado. Sometimes it helps a newbie to spend an afternoon in the company of another OC'er who's done it awhile to feel more comfortable about their own move to take up OC.
Today was another opportunity for me to help a newcomer to OC by having him tag along with me while I ran some errands I wanted to do today. porterhouse83 is a really decent young man who makes a significant contribution to our community. I won't go into details because his charitable work is his thing if he should wish to discuss it openly, but I was personally impressed with him. He was nervous and I could understand that from my own experience when I started OC. Now, of course, I don't even think on it because it is now normalized behavior for me, but it wasn't so long ago that I've forgotten the butterflies I felt when I walked out my front door OC'ing for the first few times. Especially the first few times that I walked into banks!
So I met up with him and his very lovely lady at Denny's out west of here. We chatted merrily over coffee, and at one point, an older couple from the next booth over came by and asked some questions about service of process. They'd overheard me talking about it and wanted to know some specifics. Be that as it may, they were not at all alarmed about our sidearms. Nor was anybody else at Dennys either.
porterhouse83's lady left us after Dennys because she had some sort of school work to complete and the two of us gentlemen went off to run some errands.
First stop was at King Soopers, and this particular one was pretty darn large. We moved through the store as I shopped for a few items I wanted and had a fun time with the cashier trying to check out my goodies while I spoke to her in sign language for the deaf. I detected from her speaking voice that she was either hard of hearing or outright deaf, and quickly learned that she is deaf. I carried on a brief conversation with her in sign language (my first language) and as we exited the store, my companion wanted to know where I learned ASL. I explained that my mother was deaf, so I grew up with sign language as a primary language.
Anyhow, next stop was at Bellco Federal Credit Union. I needed to make a deposit, ask about arranging for autopayment of my car loan, and to verify account balances in various accounts I have there. Porterhouse83 was a bit skeptical about walking into a bank OC, but I told him it was just fine and not to worry. I did my business with the teller and left everybody in the bank laughing as we continued our outing to Target.
At Target, I looked at cameras, video gear I am lusting over, and DVDs. Seems porterhouse83 and I have similar tastes in movies. Anyhow, we spent quite a while in Target before heading out to take a ride up to Central City and Blackhawk.
My aim was to show my new friend some of the places up there that are special to Colorado history in general and to myself in particular. We toured the old ghost town of Nevadaville, and followed a few roads higher up just to see where they went. Since I have me a newly purchased Jeep, I figured I could handle any roads up there, or lack thereof, with relative ease.
From there, we travelled back down to Idaho Springs via the "Oh My God Road". I think they've modified the road over the past few years to make it less intimidating for pilgrims, but got the impression once or twice that my passenger was not completely comfortable with how close I came to the edge. Gravel road, no guard rails, and several thousand feet worth of vertical drop if we should go over the edge. It probably didn't help for me to keep crowding the edge and pointing out how far to the bottom of the canyon it was, but he survived the trip none the worse for wear. After we got down to Idaho Springs, having seen the old Clear Creek gold mining district, I decided on an impromptu visit to an actual gold mine so my friend could see what those old timers dealt with to pull riches from the rocks! We took a tour of the Phoenix Mine, and enjoyed learning more about gold mining from a gentleman who truly knows his stuff.
After that, it was time to drop back down to the city and drop him off while I headed back toward Aurora. Returning home, I could have kicked myself for leaving my camera behind!!!!! It was a beautiful day, and a terrific outing!
As he was getting out, he thanked me for taking time to help him ease into OC, and said he felt much more comfortable and confident. I believe he'll be OC'ing on his own from here on in, and glad that I could help him over that first hurdle. We'd OC'd everywhere we went for the entire afternoon, and I was also happy to answer questions he had about specific issues he found confusing.
Point being, it doesn't hurt to help others along. It helps our movement grow. The more folks we bring along to enjoy their rights, the fewer there will be to attempt denying those rights. The tyranny of the many can best be defeated by our no longer being content to be few any longer.
Blessings,
M-Taliesin