Thanks be to God... this has not been the case with us. I don't mean that Eric and I are socialites... trust me, we're not. I mean that Okies are particularly friendly and hospitable. It's a stereotype for a reason.
Since moving here, every holiday, we've received several invitations to family celebrations. This Thanksgiving, in fact, it was hard for us to choose who to say 'yes' to and whose invitation to decline. Last year we spent Turkey day with several families from church, but this year we decided to spend it with a friend's family out in Calvin, OK.
Eric told me a few weeks ago that his friend, who had gone to law school with Eric last year but is now an attorney, invited us to his family's annual Thanksgiving get-together. We accepted with excitement because this friend of his, Ryan, had invited us to other family functions of his several times before but we'd already committed to spending other occasions with another family so we had to decline. We were excited to finally get to meet his family and spend a day with them.
We were told it would be out in the middle of nowhere-Oklahoma. It was about 2 hours south of Norman in a tiny town called Calvin. Calvin has a population of about 200 people and not one stop sign or stop light.
We were told there would be food and fun and to bring a change of clothes that we were comfortable getting dirty in. Ryan said, "Think... Deliverance" hahaha... If you get the reference, good job. Basically Ryan prepared us to be fully baptized Okies.
We left around 10:30 am and drove through the beautiful fall foilage to get to our destination. We drove through many tiny towns, tucked away in the hills (Yes, it gets hilly south of us). It was a beautiful drive and we arrived in Calvin around 12:30.
Ryan told us to map quest the Crazy Horse Saloon, which is now called The Office Bar, and that his grandmother's house would be directly next door. When we arrived, we were laughing because the bar was in a tiny trailer. I mean TINY. The town itself was adorable. Very small as we suspected. We met up at Ryan's grandma's house and he took us over to his aunt's house down the road where the food and festivities would begin.
We met all of their relatives and began eating the delicious food. Lemme just insert... fried okra is life. Trust me. Thank me later.
Soon after, we got a tour of the farm which was in the family for many many years. It was originally a peanut farm and they also raised cattle. They still do, to my knowledge.
The farm was huge. Hundreds of acreage if I'd guess. Filled equal amounts of prairies and forests on hilly terrain.
We changed into our play clothes and went over to a corner of the farm where they'd often go shooting. We shot clay pigeons for a while (SO FUN). I got a couple but mostly sucked at it. Also, though I have some experience with guns, shot guns hurt my shoulder and wrist after a while haha. Eric, of course, killed it and hit almost every clay pigeon.
Soon after, we were invited to ride quads and follow a group on a ride around the property. The quads were big enough for two so Eric drove and I sat behind him. I was a "backseat driver" as they call them. It was Eric's first time operating that kind of vehicle, and since I grew up riding quads, I was arrogantly instructing him haha. I finally relaxed after about an hour ;)
They took us all around the property and we experienced almost every type of terrain there was. We climbed up and down big, rocky hills, through forests, across prairies, up to the highest point where we could see miles of Oklahoma. It was all breathtaking.
We saw a lot of wild life but aside from the doe that ran in front of us, we were ecstatic when we saw an armadillo. Sucker was FAST and hilarious to watch. We don't have those in CA so, of course, Eric was thrilled. He wouldn't stop talking about the armadillo.
When we got back from our long ride, it was quite cold. We headed back in the house and ate more food since it was dinner time. Time flies when you're having fun. The rest of the night consisted of laughing and talking with Ryan and his wife. They both gave us super helpful and encouraging insight on law school, post-law school, having a family, etc. It was especially wonderful for me to talk to someone who has been a law student's wife like me. She was so encouraging and it was comforting to feel validated in my fears, anxieties, and worries. It was cool to see how everything had worked out for them.
The night only ended because we were worried about Walker being home alone. Oh, have I mentioned Walker on my blog? I don't think so. Anyways, he's our coonhound.
In a nutshell, it was a perfect Thanksgiving. We may have another adopted family. They even invited us back for Christmas. We'll have to flip a coin since we have a few Christmas invitations as well. So blessed.
xoxo, A Law Student's Wife
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