Oklahoma Culture

First, I apologize for my blogging hiatus. The last few weeks have been CRAZY busy with our move. Spent a lot of time prepping our house in Clarksville for our renters and packing up the stuff we moved ourselves, and then we had the joy of a 2 day road trip to Oklahoma and then a whirlwind couple of days of the movers delivering our stuff and unpacking everything and getting settled. The good news is we're fully unpacked in our cozy little house in Oklahoma, and honestly it's not so bad.

Now that I'm living in a new state I plan on creating a new blogging side project. I will be calling it "Only in Oklahoma" and I will be informing you of the many crazy things that I witness living in this fine state where, yes it's true, the wind does come sweeping down the plains. For example, our first full day here K and I ran to Walmart while his parent's watched G to pick up some basic groceries to get by for a few days. Wow, folks and I thought Walmart people watching was good in Tennessee, boy was I wrong. Before even entering the building we saw 3 women in pajama pants (come on people - at least somewhat get dressed before you leave the house), and a woman with large front pooch and the tightest pants imaginable - bad combo. The scary part was this was at the nice, new Walmart. Think of what I may come across at the older, sleazier one on the other side of town - oh the possibilities.

Well, that's my first thoughts on Oklahoma so far. Don't worry I'm now armed with my digital camera and Blackberry camera phone wherever I go and I will do my best to document this fascinating Oklahoma culture. You're in for a treat, folks.

Here is our first family pic here in Oklahoma - up on top of Mount Scott in the Wichita Mountains where it's super windy (as you can tell). Bet you're surprised how scenic Oklahoma can be....isn't it pretty up there? Trust me the rest of the area, isn't this great.

Constant Change

Lately, it's been really setting in how much my life is going to dramatically change in the next year or so. For those that aren't as much in the know with me, here's a little update. In a month, my husband, K, will be commissioning as an Army lieutenant - yep, a butter bar. K has spent the past 2 years in grad school on behalf of the Army and we've been so lucky to have him home for 2 and half years living the life of a student much more so than a soldier, but that time is coming to an end and to tell you the truth it scares the crap out of me. The thought of him going back into the "real Army" and realistically deploying again sometime in the relative future is nightmare-ish. Granted we spent the first year of our marriage on other sides of the globe and got through it coming out stronger and more connected for having gone through it, but mind you that was pre-baby. Since G was born our whole world has change (in so many amazing ways!) and the thought of playing the role of single mom while he's gone is so depressing. Granted I've known many great friends who have done it, but I love our 2 parent family. I love our rituals of fighting over bath and bedtime because we both want time with the little guy. I adore the classic family moments of playing with all of G's toys and all wearing bowls on our heads just to make him laugh. We're a family of 3 and I truly can't imagine us any other way. Just one of my fears facing this coming year of change.



Another change approaching is our move to Oklahoma ("where the wind comes sweeping down the plains"...yes, I know you just sang that in your head) for K's training this summer and then our more permanent move to Colorado around New Year's. Wow, so much moving, settling, and then moving again. I at least feel some comfort from having visited Oklahoma and finding a nice rental house and getting to know the town. It won't be that bad. It's just the anxiety of settling there and trying to meet friends to simply up and leave again 7 months later - the Army life is never easy. My mom has always reiterated the saying, "change is the only constant thing in life," and I believe it to be true, but it's never easy. We're both ready to move on from where we're at now, but wow it's just completely emotionally overwhelming. I've been trying to just keep telling myself we have time, but the truth now is we don't. We will be moving in 2 months and that's a short amount of time. I just feel like I'm in a speeding car and I'm slamming on the brakes and it's not slowing down. So, I guess it's time to ease off the brake and embrace the ride. Heck, I need to to suck it up, stick my head out of the window and the let the wind blow through my hair. Oklahoma here we come!!!!