A Look Back...Sept 2008

9.23.2010

If you would have told me that some day I'd live in Oklahoma, I wouldn't have believed you. I know--that's totally the sort of thing everyone says. But to a girl who grew up just 35 minutes from the heart of downtown Chicago, the idea of living in Oklahoma sounded completely ridiculous.

It still kind of does.

Two years ago this month I moved to the Sooner State. The circumstances by which I ended up here are strange and rather boring, so I won't bother to write them in detail, but the long and short of it is that my dad, who'd been looking for a job for a few years, finally found one in North Texas, and my parents decided to move.

Move from the house on Cooley Ave where I grew up. Move from both sets of grandparents and all my friends. Move from public transportation, the suburbs, Lake Michigan, and snow.

Having lived in the same place my entire life, move wasn't a word I fully understood. Yes, I'd moved four hours away to college in Southern Illinois. But I'd always been able to come home.

I graduated college the summer of the move and, having no job prospects and nothing better to do, moved south with my parents and three younger siblings. Maybe, I thought, I'll find a job in Texas. 

I spent a good three months laying out and swimming at the pool, trying to escape the deathly Texas heat, until I finally secured myself an editing position at a publishing company in Oklahoma.

I remember walking into our kitchen and saying to my mom, "I have a job interview!"
"Where?" she asked.
"Oklahoma."

That one word sealed my fate, and before I knew it I was apartment hunting and bargain furniture shopping. My start date was September 22, 2008. Two years ago yesterday.

For a while it was really hard. I knew no one. I didn't know the names of any roads or highways (not good for someone who gets lost driving in a straight line). And my closest friend was a good nine-hour drive. Luckily, my family only lived 3 hours from me, so I drove home often those first few months. Accustomed to dorm life, roommates, and college functions, it took me some time to get used to living alone.

But then I found a church and started making friends at work, and everything started to fall into place. I found a tennis league and a place to play violin; I learned the roads and intersections and found the mall; I bought a Pikepass and started going to Texas only once every other month. I also met this boy, but that's a whole other story.

Strange as it may have sounded, this has become my home. And I can't believe it's been two years since this:

And this:
Now these days I find myself doing a lot of this:


It's been a good two years. Thanks, Oklahoma.
Hannah said...

Aw, I like it. I sure am glad you came to Oklahoma!

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