Identifying with My People

     We have a lot happening in our lives this week.  Today is birthday to my Nephew(on my Husband's side), my Great-Grandmother (on my Mom's side), and my Cousin (on my Dad's side).  Happy Birthday everyone!    
      Thursday is a true holiday...My husband was born on this day in 1969.
      It is also the date in 1889 Oklahoma was opened to homesteading.  At the gunshot that morning, law-abiding would be settlers were set loose to stake their claim on 160 acres of land.  My husband's grandfather did just that.  Mere miles from the starting line.  There is a sandstone marker still visible above the spring that is still flowing in fresh water.  We celebrated it as kids in school as 89er Day (even the indian kids.  Yes, we said indian, and they were proud to be indian.  As am I).  In the town my family comes from, there is a rodeo and a parade and a carnival.  The non-law abiding would be settlers had sneaked over the line and found their claims early...you already know them...today they are called SOONERS.  But I digress.
      Before all the celebrating begins, I need to say that I am proud to be an Oklahoman.  I have never in my life heard someone say, "..but it's so...FLAT!", that I haven't wanted to smack their mouth.  It is the most beautiful place on earth.  You can see the sunset.  It is not obscured by the trees, or the hills, or the megalopolis.  You can see the weather coming for hours before it gets to you.  The pollen doesn't stay because the wind is continually blowing it away(apparently to Knoxville).  The weather in the summer is totally predictable.  It's hot.  The National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum and the Firefighters Museum are right there in Oklahoma City with The Thunder and for the less sporty...the totally laid back Classen Grill (yeah, that is sort of awkward, but I am hungry for potatoes).  I really could go on and on.
      You know you already love Oklahoma, too.  You might even have an Eskimo Joe's T-shirt. You watched The Outsiders.  You know you loved Twister.   Did you watch Far and Away?  And you know tickets to see the Thunder are less expensive than Lakers tickets.
      Oklahoma is better than OK.  Oklahoma has class.
      On this date, fifteen years ago, a man in a rented truck pulled up in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building building in downtown Oklahoma City --a building housing, not only Social Security offices but also a day care center.  Vacated to a safe distance, and detonated an explosive that he had designed out of fertilizer.  He was executed for his crimes.  The lives of the victims of his crime are commemorated at stunning memorial that is located steps from the revitalized center of downtown social life.  Oklahomans tend not to whine. Handed death, they chose to celebrate life.  I am proud to be counted alongside y'all.


Note: please follow my lovingly searched links...as always I have struggled to locate the right picture only to find it was gonna cost me a wagonload to use it.  Thanks.  I will develop this skill shortly.