I am currently back in Oklahoma to do a wedding. In fact, I am just now sitting down after the wedding and wedding party.
I live in Oregon. Oregon is green and lush and beautiful. Everyone in Oklahoma seems to want to know what it is like. After I told a few people about it, I could see they weren’t sure what to do with the information. This is, after all, Oklahoma. It is dry and brown and windy and not very beautiful (at least not right now…)
I looked at one person who asked and I talked about how beautiful Oregon was, and I added that in my eyes, Oklahoma is beautiful because it has beautiful people.
Those beautiful people are people like the Ott’s, the Lewis’, the Park’s, the Fitzwater’s, the Webb’s, the Jordan’s–and the list goes on and on. People whose lives have been intertwined with mine for over a decade. They have made an unmistakable impact on my life, and I on theirs.
That impact is beautiful.
Ultimately, that is what makes every place beautiful. Oregon has beauty that enters through the eyes–there is no mistaking that. But her real beauty is the same as Oklahoma’s. It is just that Oregon’s beauty comes in names like Sprecker, Cantrell, Lankow, Sunday, Belhumeur–and the list goes on.
That is the kind of beauty that enters through the heart. I will take that every time.
Beauty must be in the eye of the beholder. I find the Osage and Chautaqua Hills of northeastern Oklahoma & southeastern Kansas totally beautiful. Yesterday a drive in the country left me thanking God for thinking of us and giving us the beautiful rolling hills. I always consider this part of the country a “gift from God.” I find the sunshine here healing. I understand the lushness of Oregon, but it is on the “nice place to visit” list for me. I thank God each day for the sunsets here. I am constantly having people ask me when they see my photos (and are not familiar w/ me) where I live. Dan & I are blessed–we don’t live in Oklahoma by circumstance–this is where we chose to live–but wherever we have lived, God provided a unique view & beauty for us. I get your point that your friends in Oklahmoa provide a beauty for you–but I get soooooo tired of the Oregonian/California attitude that it is the only place on earth.
Gotcha! I really didn’t want people to feel like I was dogging on oklahoma! I love this place…but I know that the biggest reason I love it is people like the Reeds–hands down.
Went to OK. when in my 20s. Never worked so hard for so little. Was introduced to rattlesnakes, open combines, shaff down my back, and freshly cooked chicken. On the whole a wonderful place to be from, especialy when introduced to the storm celler one night, it’s funny but critters like in out of the storm as well a humans.
I must have been in my own world when you can to OK…I am sorry I missed hugging you! So glad that you get to come back from time to time. Love you and your family!
“came to OK”….LOL!