We live on the East Coast. But when people ask, as they always do in a military town, "Where ya' from?" I say proudly I'm from Texas...and yes Texas is home to me and always will be. My parents live there, my grandparents, all of my aunts and uncles and cousins.
Sometimes I don't like to admit it, but a good part of my soul lives in Oklahoma too.
We moved from Texas to Oklahoma when I was 7. When we were kids we used to make fun of the state because the Oklahoma license plate bragged that "Oklahoma is OK". Who wants to belong to a state that celebrates mediocrity? I don't know for sure if the license plates still say Oklahoma is OK or not.
But truth is truth. I graduated high school from there and even went to college in Stillwater. Yep, I'm an Aggie! My first little rent house and my first real job after college were both in the Sooner State. I lived there until I moved to Virginia and got married...that's 19 years I was a Sooner.
Did you know the red bud tree is the Oklahoma state tree? And mistletoe is the state flower? That's what two semesters of Oklahoma History in 9th grade will teach you. I guess some of what I learned stuck. Today on our nature walk, the boys spotted a red bud tree far ahead of us and asked what it was. They aren't hard to spot. Their bright fuscia blossoms pop right out at you against the other browns and greens of the other trees.
But today, after the many years since living in Oklahoma, I didn't think about mediocrity when I saw the red bud. I thought about Oklahoma and the red buds with fond memories of growing up in communities that were safe. And of people who help each other when they are down. You know, salt of the earth types who work hard and go to church on Sunday. I thought about my brother and his kiddos...another one on the way. S's sister and her kids. My good friends from college.
Maybe this is a sign that Im growing up a bit. Or is it that its been so long now that I am forgetting all of the red dirt and tornadoes that go with it. Either way, I smiled today when I saw the red buds in bloom.