Part V: Kindred Homes

This post will be for most of my readers, so bear with me as I write for the sake of memories. There sits in Pryor, Oklahoma the home of my wife’s grandfather. The home sits on about 20 acres and has been there for a long time. And the house is green. About 700 miles away, to the west, sits two homes that are well known to my family, Aunt Linda’s old home in Bedrock and Grandpa’s home in Paradox.

If you were to take the comfortable lived-in feeling from both homes, mix them together, and keep it all one level, you would have this home in Pryor. The furniture, pictures on the wall, dining table, beds, kitchen, furnace/stove, (the list could go on) were all similar. I could literally feel the bond between these three homes and I took great comfort and breathed deeply the sense of solace and simpler days. I was left looking for an orchard or calves to feed out of giant baby bottles. I settled for seeing the dogs, chickens and litter of kittens.

There is something unique about old homes of this generation. They are humble abodes and have silent walls just itching to share their tales of hardships and challenges of raising a family. This will be the second to last chapter about our trip to Oklahoma I was going to save it for last because of the memories that were stirred—happy memories in a time when everyone else was struggling. The fact that my kids enjoyed their brief layover in great-grandpa’s house was exceptionally rewarding. However, I have one final post about Salina, that is simmering on the back burner. Let's hope I don't burn it.



pss. Believe it or not, there is a billboard between Lubbock and Amarillo, that advertises Buffalo Chip Liquor. (I can only imagine why they call it that. Instead of a worm at the bottom of the bottle, you have a little ball of dung...?)