Past and Present

Although I consider myself a Texas girl, I spent the first 6 years of my life in Oklahoma. At the young age of 6, I thought Oklahoma was the perfect place. I even threatened to move back when I became of age, but as I grew up I learned that Dallas offers more — much more. At some point, I left behind the childish idea of moving back to Oklahoma and decided to stay in Texas. I can’t even fathom living there now. Yes, I have become a tried and true Texan.

Yet there are a few things from my early years in Oklahoma that I haven’t left behind — a love for weekends at the lake and a love for the OU Sooners. When I was growing up, watching the Texas/OU game was a tradition. It was a link to my family’s past. It was the only time when I felt like an “Okie” living in Texas. The funny thing is that it has never changed. There’s one day every year when I stop being a Texan, and I get in touch with my past, my heritage, and the state of my birth. It’s also the only time that Gary and I cheer for different teams, which is interesting in it’s own right.

Yesterday, I sat down to watch the No. 1-ranked Sooners kick the No. 5-rated Horns to the curb. The last time Texas beat a No. 1 Oklahoma squad was back in 1963. This game should have been easy for them. Unfortunately, the Horns turned the tables on the Sooners and eked out a 45-35 victory at the Cotton Bowl — so much for me touting my Oklahoma pride yesterday. Oh well, maybe next year.

I put my Texas cap back on today and looked forward to a Cowboys win at Arizona. Maybe that would soothe my wounded OU spirit. We had the One Life group coming over at 6 pm, so we thought it would be fun to watch the end of the game together before we started the meeting. By the time everyone arrived, it wasn’t looking too good for Dallas. But, they came back at the end and tied the game with a field goal in the last 4 seconds. Yay…we were going into overtime!

A few minutes later, it was all over. The excitement was gone. The Cowboys had floundered just like my precious Sooners did on Saturday. I’m not sure what happened, but it was a bad sports weekend for my “past and present” teams. The only saving grace is that we had a great One Life meeting. It was a “winning” end to my winless weekend.