ric·​o·​chet

n. : a glancing rebound (as of a projectile off a flat surface)

v. : to bounce or skip with or as if with a glancing rebound

In the firearm world, a ricochet is something we need to understand as it can result in a dangerous situation – possibly a life or death circumstance. How do we prepare for a ricochet from a bullet? Easy. We wear protective gear. We don’t shoot at hard surfaces or water. We also don’t shoot at unknown targets or over hills and buildings. In the world I live in, firearms are serious business and equally important is the knowledge to operate them efficiently and safely. We talk shop about failures and risk ricochets on the range.

Failures and risk are inevitable in life, as far as I can tell. On December 24, 2023, as I prepared with my family to celebrate the symbolic birth of Jesus Christ, my business world was swept from beneath me in one instant “click”. An online world I helped create and build from the ground up, for seven years, was instantly cancelled and countless of connections with people were sucked into the blackness of oblivion. The ten years before that were shared photos and stories I took documenting my life. I I was sent into a tailspin moving from there: I walked through the rest of the holidays with a smile on my face but obviously distracted. I slept, ate, and worked. I felt incredibly sorry for myself. Why was this happening? I hit a wall. Breathe. As my wise daughter stated, “Life is where your feet are, fam.”

Since its conception and launch, aside from the usual day to day duties involved in making family and business keep moving forward, my way of contributing significantly to Northern Elite Firearms was spreading the word of its existence to the millions of “electronic profiles” across the globe – it was a joyful and amazing experience to speak with and/or get to meet thousands of people from all over the world. I openly shared the positive stories in my life with intention to inspire, motivate, or educate those who looked on my profile – the audience was always my children and so I posted what I believed to be good and right. I kept aware of firearm issues within the country and came to learn who patriots were and who they weren’t. I was able to increase my firearm knowledge immensely and came to familiarize myself with hundreds of models of these wonderful tools. There is the thick silver lining. And now the price to pay is inevitable, as all ways of learning is.

How do we prepare for a ricochet in life? The answer is not as simple as it is with a bullet. There are few rules when it comes to knowing which path to commence on but I understand we are designed to make decisions – good and bad. Some decisions often result in targeted success after weighing the pros and cons; others are a shot in the dark with an unknown flight and direction. Decision making can also be purposeful or intentional. Through purpose we can reasonably and consciously facilitate our mission without too much resistance or sting for we know what the target is, clearly seeing the end goal even if it’s not always in focus. With intention we learn, like the slip of a trigger finger and slap of a ricochet, it doesn’t always work out.

The risk of failure is part of the journey and as much as we want to avoid it, we can bank on it somewhat in order to do better. It’s true that we can walk into a situation without giving much thought about the risk involved and some may argue that’s an error made with immaturity and impulsiveness. Sometimes though, we are lead to a situation beyond our control and we need to make a set of decisions that will ultimately ensure our survival in the moment and beyond. Perhaps rules were broken or misunderstood. Maybe the sight picture was altered in some way. Back to the drawing board. Review what’s occurred; correct and proceed. With oversight comes more learning, in many cases instant and lasting, and I have come to learn as much as I can. So here we are.

Despite the setbacks, I took a few days to analyze and compartmentalize reality and find myself skipping like a smooth, flat rock on a quiet, reflection pond –  I’m grateful my purpose is still clear. I am a learner and a teacher; a writer and reader, a straight shooter – a daughter, a mother and grandmother, a niece, an auntie, a friend, a partner, a boss, a leader. Here I sit and accept I have to work back up to where I was. I’m in the beginning flight of a ricochet and my current path is unknown. One chapter of life bouncing off an impenetrable blockage and back into another time and place. Even though the events unfolding are unseen I’ll trust what’s done is part of my story.

It will take some time to adjust and reload which is one of the best traits both life and guns have to offer. If you’re reading this, you are witnessing FPS in action – not the criminal or velocity kind but the photography kind. Unlike the trajectory of a bullet, a ricochet in life doesn’t necessarily have to end in poor circumstance. In my case, life slowed down but it might just be the rebound I needed. I have time to take more pictures and create moments without the past weighing me down. I choose to move on. I’m excited for what’s next.

Shoot straight, my friends. I’ll send you pictures.      –  Melanie