Oklahoma (where the wind comes sweeping down the plains...)

If someone would have told me back when I was engaged to my wonderful husband that I would someday reside in Oklahoma I may have called the wedding off (ok, not really but you get the gist)...

Never in a million years would I have dreamed I'd end up living in the midwest. Even more interesting than that, I LOVE it here and I don't think I'd ever go back to Phoenix.

So I decided to compile a list about all the things I love about Oklahoma since most people think I'm nutty for loving it here. This should finally answer the question I know is looming in your minds "why Oklahoma?".

Seasons

I know this word may be foreign to many of you. Let me explain. A season is where the weather changes and all kinds of things in nature begin happening, in fall leaves (yes we actually have trees here) begin to turn beautiful colors of red,

brown, yellow and purple. It is absolutely breathtaking. In the winter (this is when Christmas arrives for those of you in AZ) all the leaves fall off the trees and we sometimes get snow and ice. It's awesome. Just when you get absolutely sick to death of the cold, spring comes along and everything comes to life again. I love it.

Traffic

Yeah, we really don't have that here believe it or not. I loathe sitting in traffic waiting. It drives me bonkers. The freeway system here rocks. I can literally be from one side of town to the other in twenty minutes easy. The cool thing is that Oklahoma City FEELS like a small town but it really isn't. It has everything (except Chino's, Macayo's and Jack in The Box) that I need. So if you want to raise your kid with a small town feel, but don't want to raise cattle or drive two hours to a grocery store, OKC is awesome.

The Doctors

Seriously the best doctors and hospitals that I have ever seen. The doctors offices have bible verses on the walls. Nearly all of our doctors are good Christians who give us really great sound, Godly advice on raising our children. They remember our family and know who we are. Our family physician asked us every time we went in the office if we had found a home church yet and gave us suggestions on where we could go. You can't get care like that anywhere else.

Community

OKC has a great sense of community. Granted, a LOT of it centers around Sooner football, but the schools are fantastic. I truly feel that my kids are receiving a better education here than they would anywhere else. College is HUGE here, like it is totally expected that kids will go to college, and my kids will not even know they have the option NOT to go. Actually, they don't have the option. They will learn from my mistakes and go and GET IT OVER WITH when they are young.

Tornadoes

Wow, you are saying is she serious? Now, don't get me wrong, I don't enjoy seing someone's home get ripped to shreds and them loosing everything, or the casulties that happen during a tornado. What I love here is the excitment that goes with the weather. At first I was scared to death of tornadoes. Now it is a whole bunch of excitement on the news when a tornado or ice storm comes into town. It is the main event. I love going outside and looking up at the sky when it is all scary and black, then running back in real quick because I shouldn't be outside looking in the first place!

It's funny here because it is really like six degrees of separation. You know someone and realize that they know someone you know, and everyone is really connected somehow. You usually end up running into someone you know at the grocery store, which is funny because the city is pretty large. It is a big city with everything I need, yet it has this small town feel to it. I just can't explain it. I had such a rough time at first when I moved here. I missed my friends and family (and still do), but something has made me fall in love with this place as crazy as it sounds. I get angry when they call us a "flyover state" because truly I feel this is a wonderful place to live and raise a family.