O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A!!!
Sunday, October 15th, 2006We have spent three blissfully busy days in Tulsa, OK. The wind has, indeed, swept down the plain. Several times.
Mostly, the time was spent visiting family, taking care of travel business, and eating wonderful home-cooked meals, which will probably be our last home-cooked meals for a while.
Polenta with homemade artichoke sauce.
Grilled chicken, pork, tabbouleh, and roasted vegetables.
German chocolate cake.
Taco salad. (We’ll probably encounter this on our way South, but it was delicious nonetheless…)
Roast beef, potatoes, broccoli cole slaw and carrots– as Sarah said, the Platonic ideal of a meal.
Uncle Tom’s birthday took place on Friday, celebrated by a raucous McAlister/Dooley dinner, during which my Mom and my Aunt Connie relived their junior high school memories and read everyone’s faces with their new face-reading book. Low-set ears, I learned, mean that you take in information slowly and wait for all the facts before acting. Throughout the course of the night, I also learned that Mr. Eagan, Mom and Aunt Connie’s junior high science teacher, had 1) sleep apnea, 2) necrophilia, and 3) narcolepsy. (I think we settled on #3 as the actual affliction). He also told my Aunt Connie that she had round eyes, which has a certain significance in face-reading. Uncle Tom opened presents, pictures were taken, and a great deal of fun was had by all. We missed out on a hot tub, though.
The next day, Sarah and I spent $100 at Wal-Mart. I have no idea how.
Then, beers on Saturday night at a Tulsa bar. Church on Sunday. Sarah and my Mom gossiping about my childhood idiosyncracies. Frantic packing tonight.
We leave for Cancun bright and early tomorrow morning. The trip has finally begun. It’s difficult to take a good, hard look at all the anticipation and preparation, say, “I’m ready” and finally jump into the deep end. After so much getting ready, I’m not sure when it will hit me, or if it ever will. Here’s hoping it eventually hits me, so I’ll know I’m getting what I’m looking for out of this trip. Come to think of it, I should probably decide what it is that I’m looking for… there’s a project for the plane ride.
-Megan (with help from her Mother)