My mother was still a teenager when this picture was taken. I don’t know what’s more impressive, her firearms proficiency or standing in snow in those shoes.

Mom’s always been the best markswoman in the family. I just learned to deal with it. Those outside the family were less accepting.

About the time I went to high school, Mom went to work at Browning Arms, an internationally respected firearms manufacturer. The upper management at that time, not surprisingly, were mostly men.

One day, a handful of men invited Mom, who worked in accounts management, to join them outside on the shooting range. They set up several targets and took turns shooting.

When her turn came, Mom knocked down every target without a miss. Then a man threw a target into the air. Mom shot it midflight. After that, the men never invited Mom to shoot with them.

My mother doesn’t shoot much anymore, but her quiet unshakable self-assurance continues to influence me for good. My wife, a single mom for six years before we married, has the same fierce self-confidence. I see it also in my sister, my daughters, and my granddaughters.

I’m grateful for the powerful, graceful, loving, independent women in my life. They’re all straight shooters.