Tulsa in the Rear View Mirror

Well, after more than ten years, today I will be leaving Tulsa for good. I've been giving this a lot of thought lately.

I was born in a military family and moved around a lot during my young life. Once my dad retired, we stayed in one house, one town, one place. I lived there for seven years. It felt like forever. But as an 18 year old, I married a guy who joined the military and the moving started up all over again.

I've lived in Tulsa--in this one house--longer than I've lived anywhere in my whole life. Tulsa is more of a 'home town' to me than the place where I graduated from high school. You know those people who say, "you can't go back"? I think they were talking about my home town of Arlington, TX. Because it's nothing like it was when I was a kid. Driving around there just makes me feel strange, not like I'm 'home'.

So, as I leave Tulsa, I'm leaving a place where I've been really comfortable. It's home. I'm going to miss this town like crazy. I'm going to miss my friends and acquaintances. I might even miss my house and my dogs. I'm not sure about that last bit...

When we leave Tulsa today, it won't be for the last time. I'm pretty sure that the friends I've made here will lure me back time and again. I'm positive that I will find some reason to swing through Tulsa on road trips and drives across the country. Route 66 will call to me like it has so many other travelers. The Mother Road.

I can still remember the day I left Arlington, TX for the last time. I looked at it in my rear view mirror and thought that it was a new chapter in my life. I'm going to feel the same way this afternoon.

This move is a unique change in my life, but it's not the last I'll see of Tulsa.

--Sandee Wagner