Monthly Archives: May 2014

Every Point on the Map

EPOTM: Payne, OK

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_DSC0150I could tell by his face that he wasn’t inclined to speak with Rachel and I.

Our first official “no” was discussed as we exited the driveway.  Glancing back at the two-story white house, I knew the owner had a story to share.  But there were hints of physical frailties, and wrinkles on his brow that, coupled with his own perspective, kept those stories from strangers.

Pensively, we turned down another driveway about a mile away.  It extended through a wheat field and wound around farm equipment, eventually stopping at a small farm house.  This one was occupied, but the occupants were on their way to run errands.

“But you might enjoy talking with my parents…”  My ears perked up as they pointed across their property toward the northwest.

“Just past that grove of trees.  You’ll find them. It might be their nap time, but it’s okay to knock.  Tell them their daughter sent you.”

So we did.

We met Max and Barbara in their back yard, planting tomatoes.  He stood quietly by her side while she chatted with him out of earshot as we approached.  Her bright pink outfit shone like a beacon as we explained our project.  As soon as we mentioned “her daughter sent us,” we were invited into the house.

We’ll let you see the rest for yourself.

If you only have 30 seconds, click here to get a glimpse of Max and Barbara.  If you have a few minutes, and we hope you do, then be prepared to open your hearts to this couple who have lived in Payne, OK all of their married lives.

For more Every Point on the Map posts, click here.

27 Hats

Waypoints

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Every night I say a prayer
in the hope that there’s a heaven
And every day I’m more confused
as the saints turn into sinners
All the heroes and legends I knew as a child
have fallen to idols of clay
And I feel this empty place inside

so afraid that I’ve lost my faith

Show me the way, show me the way…*

Right about this time, you are wondering why is he wandering around in the Styx. Please allow me to explain.

I’ve done a little traveling in my time. Not as much as some folks do (I have not been to Every Point On The Map) but enough to have garnered a story or two to go with my hats. I’ve found, along the way, that you can’t always get from point A to point B, at least, not without detouring through points once unknown.

Such was a business trip to Europe a few years ago. Continue reading Waypoints →

Every Point on the Map, Woman2Woman

EPOTM: Beggs, OK

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_DSC0268Their red stone cottage was nestled within the Beggs town proper, not too far from a water tower that, from our angle, read: EGGS.  I noticed ivy gracing the home’s outside walls as I stood on the porch and knocked, only waiting a moment before Jill answered the door.

It was Mother’s Day, a mid-Sunday morning, and as I spoke with her about our project asking for a conversation and a photo I was struck by the inner calm her voice offered in response. The sunlight lit her face and enhanced her high cheekbones, freckles and short red, curly hair.  Many are thrown off by our requests, but not Jill.

“Well, we’re headed to my mother’s house, but I have maybe five minutes?”  I knew we couldn’t set up and close back down again in five minutes, much less speak meaningfully with someone in that time frame.  So, I politely declined.

Back at the car, I relayed the details to Rachel and she said, “Why don’t we just pose the opportunity to give us her ‘best five minutes’?  This is going to happen more than once, so we could try it.”  I agreed and ran back to knock a second time.

Call it what you will – Providence, serendipity, or chance…but Jill had a story to tell on Mother’s Day.  And, she did it in only eight minutes, on her porch, with her husband Davíd at her side, and her eleven-week old son Noah on her lap.

And, we cried.

Thank you, sweet family in Beggs, for your Mother’s Day post script contribution to Every Point on the Map.

For more Every Point on the Map posts, click here.

Homestead and Garden

Mother’s Day Strawberries

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photo-5As my blade makes its way through a cool, ripe Stilwell strawberry, I breathe in the heady sweetness wafting upwards and across my face.

It’s Mother’s Day, and I’ve just returned from a two-day road trip to places I’ve not been, visiting with people I’ve only just met, with one daughter at my side.

A gathering of family on Mother’s Day brought my other daughter to my side accompanied by her man. Along with them came my husband, and we all celebrated his mother by eating food she had prepared for us on the day she should have rested, and received.

The berries for our dessert had been left behind, so we joyfully ate cake with whipped topping and drank our tea.

Tonight in my own kitchen, as I finish cleaning the berries previously selected for today’s dessert, I close my eyes and remember the slice of homemade pound cake with orange glaze.  I pretend to spoon my just-prepared berries over the cake, lift a full bite to my mouth, and enjoy the sweet goodness of Mother’s Day.

Thank you, God, for my own mother who helped me learn to prepare food, for my mother-in-law who prepared our food today, for my two daughters who are standing on their own as they continue to prepare food leaps and bounds over my historical 20-something capacity.  Thank you, God, for the sweet goodness of Mother’s Day.

So incredibly sweet and good.

 

27 Hats

Thunderstruck

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20140112_134312I have a confession to make: I might be a closet AC/DC fan. If you ever pull up to an Edmond intersection next to a nondescript Jeep and believe you feel an earthquake coming, it might just be yours truly damaging his eardrums in the car next to you.

On a more obvious note, I am not a closet NBA fan. I have nothing to hide. Once upon a time, I would tell friends that I had no interest in pro basketball, only the NFL. My, how times have changed. A little franchise known as the Hornets came to OKC a few years ago and rocked us like a hurricane, courtesy of a cranky persona called Katrina. The rest is history.

I enjoyed the Hornets. I even grew to like George Shinn. It seemed that he was embracing our fair city, and working to call it home.

None of that compared to what I saw last night. Continue reading Thunderstruck →

Every Point on the Map, Music Scene

EPOTM: Dibble, OK

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_DSC0038A grade school friend of mine who lived across our pasture used to tease our classmates then use “Dibble, OK” as the punch line.

“If you DO graduate high school, I’m sure you’ll have nice career at the Sonic in Dibble.”

“You’re getting on my nerves.  I think it’s time for you to move to Dibble.”

And so on.

I have no doubt that a similar personality type made the same jokes about “Tuttle, OK” while growing up in Dibble.  Dry wit, after all, is an Oklahoma pastime.

So until a few weeks ago, Dibble was a mysterious and greater-than-fiction community imprinted into my fifth grade brain as a place where punchlines finished and I would never go.

That changed when Rachel chose Dibble as the headliner for our second pilot run. And my impression of those who occupy the town has now evolved from fiction to fact by two sisters we met, sitting on their porch on a breezy Saturday morning.  They were both sporting flannel pajamas, drinking coffee, and taking in the cool morning temperatures. Wind chimes danced above their heads and serenaded their thoughts until we interrupted the scene.

Just a few minute prior, we had chosen this vintage abode as our target interview:

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The mid-century, flat-roofed home invited Dibble visitors to knock on the door, and to check out the burnt orange loungers while waiting for someone to open it up.  But no one answered; not after the first knock nor the second.

Continue reading EPOTM: Dibble, OK →