O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A!!!
We 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)
Tags: American Identity, Oklahoma, Preparations, Southwestern United States, Travel, United States
admin
Whatever it is you are looking for, you’ll find lots of new things along the way, many more than expected. Stay open to them and you’ll be doing well. Safe travels and lots of love!
And you and Sarah were good sports, letting the Seesters have their fun. I still don’t know if I believe that story about Mr. Eagan. Too bad about the hot tub. It would have been a perfect night.
Enjoy every single day. Don’t worry too much about what you’re looking for. It will unfold and you will say Aha. Just be sure to tell us about it.
Love you.
It was wonderful having you here in Tulsa! Sorry we didn’t find the perfect cool sunglasses, but hey! they may have obscured your vision for whatever it is you’re looking for. Don’t look too hard. Just be. Remember, dobedobedobe. Yeah!
As I promised, this admin will do a better job responding from now on. Thanks to all of you. We´re settling in nicely. When I figure out what I´m looking for, then find it, I´ll be sure to let yáll know.
-Megan
ps. dobedobedobe
Love it that you capitalize Mother. Don’t know why I love it, don’t want to know why (!) Still, it provides a delicate little counterpoint to the wonderful image of family raucousness, face-reading, and the obvious warmth of a clan that enjoys itself.
Well, since I was off cavorting on the west coast (and failing to go to Canada, since I forgot about how the milk of human kindness has soured and now we need passports to cross the border), I have missed all the latest installments. But I am going to read them one by one and respond as if in real time. So first of all, THE FOOD. When can I come visit Oklahoma and be fed like that? And second of all, the $100 to the god of Walmart. I suppose it had to be done. LIke sacrificing cute fluffy animals to other gods in other times. And third of all, WHOAH. Off you go!!!