Today's Chuck Norris Fact:
Chuck Norris once ate a whole cake before his friends could tell him there was a stripper in it.
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As a new treat, I'm adding a daily quote from well-known people I've admired. For the next several posts, the primary quote person will be Albert Einstein, my all-time favorite hero. Today's Einstein quote:
A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.
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So, this weekend I took a trip with Heidi, her son Donovan (who just turned 6 last week, by the way...way to go, D!!), her mom, and her sister. We headed down to Grapevine, TX, a northern suburb in the DFW area, for the wedding of Stephanie Duell, Heidi's cousin. She wed her longtime significant other, Jack Trueheart Schreiber (now there's a Texas name if I ever heard one). The trip was extremely long and tiring (30 hours of drive time, 15 there and 15 back, with only 21 hours of actually being at our destination). But, overall it was still a pretty good trip. I got to know my soon-to-be mother-in-law and sister-in-law a little better, and that's always good. I hope that they feel the same way.
I also got an interesting first-time experience, one that left a very bittersweet taste in my mouth. For the first time in my life, I traveled THROUGH Oklahoma. Many of you may have traveled through Oklahoma, and I have many times myself, but this time was different. It's the first time in my entire life that I took an extended trip through Oklahoma, in which neither my starting point nor my destination point was within Oklahoma. It was really weird to travel through like that, and not stop to see family or friends or do something else meaningful.
Not that this was all bad...I was able to regale my beautiful fiancee, her son, and my future in-laws with interesting stories about Oklahoma, both from my own personal experience and from Oklahoma's history. It was great! As we drove through Guthrie, I told them the story of how Guthrie was the original capitol, then how the governor took the files in the middle of the night and moved them to Oklahoma City so that Oklahoma City would be the capitol. As we drove down through Ardmore, I got to tell them about how we drove right by one of Dad's client companies, and I got to point out a restaurant called Ponder's where Dad and I would eat together on trips that way when I was about 3 or 4. I got to tell Heidi about Oklahoma's Arbuckle Mountains, and I got to point out Frontier City. I don't know if they enjoyed it, but I sure enjoyed getting to share my home state with them.
We also stopped for breakfast at an IHOP in Moore. I wanted to make it to Norman and eat there, as Norman is my favorite town in all of Oklahoma, but I had a mutiny on my hands at that point and I wasn't sure I'd make it. It was great to get to stop and eat, though. As I am wont to do, I was wearing one of my OU t-shirts. In Colorado, I stand out for this; in Oklahoma, I'm merely another one of the thousands already wearing such a shirt. It's almost like eating my Grandma's food. It provides a connection to my home state and those who still live there, even if I don't live there and am merely from there now.
So it was not a bad trip, though it did wear me out pretty good. I will say, though, that I prefer stopping in Oklahoma much better than traveling through it.
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The trip through Oklahoma also got me to thinking on something Heidi said while we were eating. "You have two homes, just like Katie and Connor do," she said as we happily packed away our pancakes and eggs. I don't know if I can agree with this fully, mostly because my children DO have two homes, one with me and one with their mom, and they live at each one regularly. I don't have such a luxury, however; I live in one place and rarely get to visit my true home. Heidi has made living in Colorado much easier to deal with, and I still tell her that she's the best thing Colorado has given me. However, it's been nearly 7 months since I visited Oklahoma to stay for any length of time, and that really rankles. I don't remember the last time I had a stretch so long, unless it was shortly after we moved to Colorado way back in 1996. I don't think I visited Oklahoma much during my first year and a half living here. Since then, though, I've tried really hard to make it back on a regular basis. In fact, Oklahoma is still my favorite place to go when I'm on vacation, which is saying something considering that I've been to the Riviera Maya near Cancun twice. I know, I know...what blasphemy to say that when there are SO MANY other "better" places to go for a vacation, but all you folks already live where you want to live, so just shut up about it. :-)
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For those of you who are fans of John Denver, I must apologize for what I'm about to write. I love John Denver, myself; I can remember hearing his music with my parents when I was about 3 or 4 years old. This was the same time period when Dad would hook up his microphone to his stereo system, then hide in the bedroom and talk to me through the speakers. He'd tell me that he was stuck inside the speaker and I needed to help him get out...but I digress.
I remember hearing Grandma's Feather Bed, Annie's Song, and especially Country Roads. Years later, when I would listen to this song with Katie, we would rework the words a little bit to fit a state we love much more than West Virginia (and it really shouldn't be necessary for me to mention what state that is). Over time, I continued slowly altering the lyrics here and there to make it fit better and make it a little more my own. Here's how it's turned out:
Almost heaven, Oklahoma
Jack Fork Mountains, Washita River
Life is good there, trees and grass so green
Lightning bugs a-flyin', the most you've ever seen
(Refrain)
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
Oklahoma, Sooner Mama
Take me home, country roads
Cattle country, plains, crosstimbers,
Rancher's lady, nothing but red water
Springtime rainstorm movin' through the sky
Distant sound of thunder, teardrop in my eye
(Refrain)
I hear her voice in the mornin' hour as she calls me
Red earth reminds me of my home far away
Drivin' down the road I get a feelin'
That I should've been home yesterday...yesterday
(Refrain x3)
So there you have it, folks. It's not exactly an original work, but it works for me. In fact, I use my own words every time I hear it now. I like mine much better.
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The other day, I was talking with Heidi about real vs. fake beauty. There are so many people you see who are beautiful, but for whom that beauty is so obviously fake, like a mask they put on in the morning. Of course, for some of these people, that beauty really IS a mask...a mask of foundation, blush, lipstick, eyeliner, and eye-shadow. You can tell they're working really hard to make themselves appear much better than they normally would appear, or that they're unhappy enough with their real beauty to try augmenting it.
Then there are other people, perhaps merely pretty or even average-looking or plain, who seem more attractive or more beautiful because of something about them. For some people, it's an amazing smile, or wonderful eyes, or really good hair. For others, it might be something less tangible, like a positive, friendly attitude or a gregarious nature or anything that might appeal to someone specifically.
We tend to see beauty merely physically, but there are aspects of beauty that go beyond the physical beauty and truly augment or diminish it.
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Something else that came up from this weekend was how little I understand about folks who prefer HUGE weddings. When Heidi and I get married, I only want people there who really know me and who are genuinely happy that I'm doing something that contributes to my own happiness. If I had a wedding and invited 200 people, I don't know if I'd believe that they were all there because they're happy that I'm getting married, or if they're merely there out of social or familial obligation, or if they're just there for a piece of cake. I'm so glad that Heidi and I are keeping our upcoming wedding small and intimate.
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I've had a lot of these thoughts in my head for several days, and I wanted to post on them sooner. I don't like putting so much time between posts. But anyway, thanks for reading along.
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