Leaving Oklahoma feels alien to Norman columnist

By Jane Glenn Cannon Comments 4
Published: November 4, 2009

NORMAN — I’ve watched those television documentaries where people who think they have been abducted by aliens talk about their experience, how they were awakened from a deep sleep and spirited away to a spaceship in the sky. They’re examined and interviewed by aliens, and sometimes they’re tagged (much like we tag exotic animal species), before being returned home to resume their normal lives.

That didn’t happen to me; although, it felt a little like it.

For the past two weeks I’ve been elsewhere, 900 miles to the north in Milwaukee. I didn’t plan on going and had little time to pack, which explains why I wore a pair of high-top pink tennis shoes with the same pair of jeans, alternated with two tops (one of which was red and didn’t really go with the pink tennis shoes), the entire time I was there. I didn’t know most of those people so it’s OK if I gave them something to talk about.

I went because my son had become very ill and was hospitalized. A hospital calls and tells you your child is in intensive care and you don’t much care what you’re wearing. Life as you know it goes on hold, and you don’t think twice about driving 15 hours to be by his side.

I did think twice about driving 15 hours to get home again, but thinking about it didn’t change the fact that if I wanted to get home that’s what I had to do. By the time I left Milwaukee, my son was doing well. He’s definitely on the mend, and I was ready to get back to life in Oklahoma.

While in Milwaukee, I missed the news that Sam Bradford was going pro. When I did find out, I discovered no one there much cared. "Sam who?” one person asked. Well, I didn’t much care that Brett Favre now plays for the Vikings instead of the Packers, but I did have the good sense not to go "Brett who?” when the subject came up.

People there also kept insisting I talked funny, but I wasn’t the one calling a bag a beg, a water fountain a bubbler and following most sentences with, yah, don’t you know. On the other hand, I realize I worry about thangs, warsh my car and turn why into a two-syllable word.

So, y’all, it’s good to be home, don’t you know?