An Okie in Ohio…
Ok, it’s not Friday, but this is fun…and my first official PHOSITA post should shake things up, right?
I met the gentleman behind the license plate in the picture the other day. As I walked across the frozen asphalt of a local Meijer store in the bitter cold, he pulled his truck into the space next to mine. I was admiring his truck (a real beauty, by the way) when I noticed the plate.
I thought to myself, I’ve got to talk to this guy.
He had a full hand of Okie stereotypes: cowboy hat, snakeskin cowboy boots, and a Boomer Sooner sticker in the window.
“You from Oklahoma?” (nothing like the obvious to start a conversation with a complete stranger, right?)
“Yes, sir, I am. Are You?”
“No. I’m a Buckeye, but I’ve spent a lot of time in your part of the world lately.”
With that, we started a twenty minute conversation despite the cold. He talked about Oklahoma, Okies, and the Okie spirit (I’ve been introduced to it lately, but somehow it hit home a bit more coming from a complete stranger). I told him about my new relationship with DCR and my recent trips to Oklahoma City.
There we stood, two complete strangers talking in the bitter cold.
We finished our conversation and he left by looking me in the eye, shaking my hand, and saying “Thanks for the conversation. It was a pleasure. Good luck to you.” The closing was just different enough to stick in my mind. Then I got it…He had told me that he missed the people the most…the Okies themselves. He said that he missed conversations in parking lots with strangers (referencing our conversation).
“People don’t do that around here,” he had said.
In some roundabout way, this Buckeye reminded that Okie of home. That, I thought, was pretty cool.
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Posted by Douglas Sorocco, December 21, 2005 at 8:45 am
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