Twisters In Oklahoma

Oklahoma without twisters in the Spring is like Ohio without snow in the winter.
Oklahoma (as illustrated by the campus at the University of Oklahoma and its National Weather Center) is the most fertile place on Earth for the formation of tornadoes. This is because of its geographic position on the North American continent. Cold air from the Rocky Mountain range meets with moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, or so goes the most simple explanation.
Several people have called to ask, "Are you guys OK?"
We are fine.
The area that was hit with the severe tornado, where several people were killed, is on the Oklahoma-Missouri border. Unfortunately, in that area of the state, people don't have access to televisions and news stations to know exactly when a storm is going to hit, or where.
It seems odd to think of it, but there are large parts of Oklahoma that are not developed. Parts of the Panhandle, for example, represent regions of the United States that still do not get a radio signal.
It is the deadest air in America.
Picher is not in that region, but it is very remote. It's not difficult to find remote areas in all parts of Oklahoma.
We had some excitement in Edmond last week when a twister was reported in our vicinity. I stayed in Norman and waited it out; Dante had the weather radio and the cats and was well prepared.
The Okie mindset, however, is wearing off on us. Each of us likes to watch the sky and see what it brings. Like I said, tornadoes happen so often here that people know how to deal with them.

All the Mothers I Know

I may be a little more sentimental about Mother's Day this year because it's the first year I don't have my own mother.

Although my own mother gave birth to me and was the best mother she knew how to be, I have had many other women who have been a mother to me, and this is my tribute to them.

Nana, Charlene, Margaret, Mae, Lucy, Marilyn, just to name a few.

Mothering doesn't happen just from biological mother to child. Mothering happens by women who surround us and love us throughout the course of our daily lives, who boost us up when we're the most downtrodden, through all the hugs, the advice, the fighting, the tears, the laughs and happiness.

The women I've named above have been angels in my life. Nana taught me so many things, I couldn't even list them here. Charlene has been this wonderful constant, this woman from Northern California who happened to transfer to Ohio just at a time when I needed someone the most. She took a teenage girl under her wing and nurtured her and protected her. She taught me that you always help a child, and there is always a child who needs help.

She's the reason I will always say that I am Italian, but I am also part Hippie. She is the most loving, caring free spirit who taught me to love Birkenstocks, to search for fireflies and that you can in fact bathe in a lake.

Mae has been the best role model a young girl could ever have. Lucy, as my older sister, always has played the role of mother with me. She has always made sure I've been OK. "What have you learned?" she'll ask me when I make a silly mistake. She will never belittle me for the mistake, she'll just remind me that I'll learn from it and grow.

And my darling mother in law, Margaret, with whom I've shared many laughs, many tears, who held me and let me cry in her arms when I had a miscarriage; who has celebrated my writing and nurtured my soul; who sings with me and dances with me in the kitchen while we're cooking, and even when we're not; who has taught me that you cry your tears and then get up and fight another day.

New mothers pop up in our lives, and that is where Marilyn Knol came in, a woman who I met through another friend in Edmond, Oklahoma. As I sobbed about the loss of my own mother, Marilyn said, "I'll be your mother." Even though at age 60-something she has three of her own children and several grandchildren, she's taken me under her wing.
She danced with me in my living room and we've shared many, many laughs over sometimes too much wine. When I built the garden in my backyard in memory of my mother, Marilyn and her husband Allen gave me beautiful hostas that made the garden seem just right, just what my mom would have wanted.
And Marilyn taught me that you build a room where you can cherish the memories of your lost loved ones, and each day, you can step into that room and say, "Good morning, Mom. I love you and I think about you every day."

Just when I get caught up in thinking that the president of the United States or the Pope may be the most powerful person in the world, I take a step back and realize the most powerful and most important person is a mother.

Thank you to all the women who have mothered me.

Celebrating Mothers

One of the most touching people I've ever met is the mother of my sister-in-law Majida. I've only ever known her as "Mama." This is Mama with Kyrmina.

Mama moved with her husband (now deceased) and her children from Jordan to the United States. One of my favorite stories about Mama is her reaction when Majida was in a car accident in Columbus, Ohio.

Mama showed up at the scene of the accident in her bare feet. Any harm to her own feet from the shards of glass or other debris at the scene of the accident was the least of her worries.

She needed to make sure her child was OK.

Beautiful Women

This Mother's Day, I'm posting photos that we didn't even know existed of my mom. Ashley, my niece pictured here with me and my mom, happened to have these on her digital camera.

I've always been one to take pictures, lots and lots of pictures. In the aftermath of my mother's death, I have been most grateful for the pictures we have left. My dining room table is scattered with all types of photographs. Classic black and white photos of my mother and grandmother; photos of my mother and father; photos of me as a baby, as a toddler, as a child, then as a woman. Photos of Ashley as a baby, as a toddler, as a child, and now, growing into a beautiful woman.

Nana is pictured in the other photo at the very top, with my mother. For the longest time, my mother hated having her picture taken. Usually, we would sneak taking a photo of her.

We look back, and we're reminded of what we've done together, what we did for each other and how we leaned on each other, especially during my mother's illness. The photographs show the progression of life, the wonders of love, and the undeniable strength of a mother.

Recession-Proof City

Oklahoma City is top on the list for recession-proof cities, according to Forbes magazine.

Nationally, home prices are falling, unemployment is on the rise and the economy is expected to grow slowly — or even contract — in the first half of the year.
But some cities are doing just fine.
Take Oklahoma City, Okla. With falling unemployment, one of the country's strongest housing markets, and solid growth in agriculture, energy and manufacturing, it looks best positioned among the nation's largest metropolitan areas to ride out the current crisis.

Despite some of its economic problems of the past, the city stands to gain from some smart business decisions by local business people, including the Oklahoma City group that purchased the Seattle SuperSonics. Also, local developer Grant Humphreys won the eBay bid for the famed Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel, which he had dismantled and having resurrected in Oklahoma City.

These are key developments for Oklahoma City, which often suffers from economic comparisons to cities in Texas, especially since the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area is only three hours south of the city.

Classic Al

My dear father in law was put in the hospital with a brain problem (likely, a hemorrage) while we were in the midst of burying my mother.

Thank goodness, he's OK. He had some memory problems and it was touch-and-go there for a while, but they placed him in a nursing home temporarily for rehabilitation and physical therapy after he was released from the hospital.

In order to appreciate the story I'm about to tell and the picture I'm posting here, you have to know how ornery Al is, God love him.

He didn't want to be in that nursing home. So he flushed his alarm down the toilet (the one they attached to him so that it could signal the nurses because he would get out of bed when he wasn't supposed to). He told us, "It was not a happy experience," of the time in the nursing home.

Let's just say they asked him to leave based on the Alarm Incident and other behavior, and my dear brother in law Damian had to go get him. In one incident, the nursing home staff wouldn't let Al put salt and pepper on his eggs, and well, that was more than he could handle.

So this is a photo of Al, obviously shopping, back out in the real world after getting himself out of the nursing home. It gave us quite a good laugh.

We love you, Al.

The Mess in Burma

Exact death figures are going to be difficult to pinpoint, let's be rest assured. But the junta must accept foreign aid to recover from this horrible disaster.
At the link I'm including here, you can see "before" and "after" satellite shots of the cyclone's impact.

http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-05/satellite-images-devastation-burma

The other item that I want to mention is that we don't need to see the dead bodies. We know what happened.

Dante contributed to this. Thank you, Dante. We'll leave your politics out of it, but thank you for the satellite link.