CityView Magazine

46 | July/August 2019 "I've been blown up," Chris said. "I've seen my friends blown up and I've seen my friends die." He paused as Nicole looked at him, then continued: "is is my therapy. When I first tried it, I just knew instantly it was a calming mechanism for me." Chris proposed opening an axe- throwing facility in Fayetteville. e idea took a little longer to grow on Nicole, an industrial organizational psychologist with her own consulting company, but then took root. "It was the first time we had ever been exposed to it," Nicole recalled about her first time throwing an axe. "Once I threw, then I understood. When you're throwing, you get a rush. You get the axe to stick and you want to do it again." Chris Bodoh deployed overseas in late 2018. Despite the time difference, he and Nicole used video chatting, the popular messaging app "WhatsApp," and talked as many times as they could every day to ready for Axes & Armor grand opening. Chris didn't return from deployment until April. In the meantime, Nicole oversaw the opening of the business in January. Chris said his wife is "everything – the bomb dot com." "I was just the execution arm," Nicole said modestly. "He had a clear vision of what it would look like, but it was with his guidance that we got to this point. I love the man that I married so if he believed it, we can achieve it." Many Axes & Armor customers come regularly because they enjoy the sport. But Chris said one regular thanked him, saying he had found therapy in throwing just as Chris had. "It made me feel better to hear that I'm able to help someone else through whatever they're dealing with," Chris said. "It's a good feeling." Chris and Nicole Bodoh, left center, opened Axes & Armor in January. Travis Blank, top left

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