OOOO~klahoma, Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Plain...

Okay...so first I have to say that this post is for you, Shelley, for calling me out on not posting anything since the iPhone situation. Love ya! ;) Second, a sing-song voice when saying the title is an absolute have-to. Come on, you know you want to! And third, you may be asking why the heck I'm singing that song. No? Well, I'm going to tell you anyway...it's my first knowledge of this State!

When I was first told we would be moving to Oklahoma, I cried. I had been born and raised in small-town-Illinois and had every intention of living there until I died. The only things I had ever known about Oklahoma were the first line of that song and the fact it was somehow related to The Grapes of Wrath - which I had to read for my English class and felt (at the time) it was an experiment in torture. Oh yeah, and there's that little thing about how Oklahoma is right smack in the middle of tornado alley. Yeah...that sounded like an awesome place to swap out for my family, my roots, and my history…not to mention, drag my child.

Needless to say, economics won out and we headed off to Danny’s new job and the great unknown. Really unknown. We didn’t know the names of the local towns, we didn’t know the names of the area counties, and we didn’t know the local television and radio stations. Even worse, we didn’t get the local television stations. At that time we had DirecTv and local channels were locked out, so you had to get your network channels out of somewhere other than the local market. This never really seemed like a problem until we had lived here a few months.

We discovered what a problem it was to be completely oblivious to your surroundings on May 3, 1999. One of the worst string of tornadoes in Oklahoma history ransacked this State (click the link for details). Danny & I were listening to his police scanner, map in hand, trying to determine not only where the tornadoes were, but also where we were in conjunction to them. We decided to look at the sky and realized from our garage viewpoint that all the cars that had previously lined the streets and been parked in the neighborhood driveways had mysteriously disappeared. The sirens sounded, and we did the best we could to ride the storm out. Mercifully and through the Grace of God, we sustained no damage or injuries…other that the traumatic experience of huddling in the hall closet with the cushions from the couch all around for protection. I believe that stuck with Devin the longest, since he was only 5 at the time.

Since that initial baptism by fire, we have seen many storms come and go – some have been bad, some not so bad. The most recent was a little over a week ago when we were hit with straight-line winds up to 70 mph. We, collectively as a family, watched through the sliding-glass door window as the wind turned Danny’s barely-over-a-month-old gazebo into a kite and fly up toward the sky, then flipped it over and scattered it across the roof. We managed to find it later in the backyard of our neighbor’s homes...the pieces anyway.

In addition to the tornadoes, we’ve experienced multiple, ridiculously rainy seasons in which we thought the rain would never end. When we were living in our camper at the lake (yes, we sold our home ~ don't get me started on that ~ and moved in to an RV; but it was hardly ‘roughing it’), there was a time we could only access our RV by boat.

If it’s not storming with tornadoes and straight-line winds, or when Mother Nature’s not trying to drown us with never-ending rain, then we get to face the heat. The sweat-inducing, raisin-making, persecuting heat. Most recently, we’ve been experiencing a rash (no pun intended) of days in which the temperature has risen above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I think the record is 50-some-odd days so far. Also, if I remember correctly, the record temperature according to my car thermometer was 114 degrees Fahrenheit. If you looked out the window you might think it's fall since the leaves are all turning brown and falling off the trees.

Now don’t get me wrong, there have been some great things about living here. My job; which lead to my career for one. Devin being exposed the vast culture and endless opportunities afforded though living in a college town for another. There are some beautiful areas in Oklahoma, and some interesting history. But I have to honestly say that any enjoyment from living in Oklahoma has run its course. This is not my dream. My dream has always been the turquoise-blue water, the foliage and fauna, the tropical air. I hear the ocean calling my name, even more than before. I have been patient, but my patience wears thin. I count the days until Devin has graduated high school and the ties that bind me here are lifted. It’s time to smell the salty air, put my toes in the warm, wet sand, and find my forever home. A home which most definitely is not Oklahoma.