"Please, I'll never ever ask for anything else as long as I live"
I found this picture of me in a box of stuff I had put away years ago. I had to stop and study it for a while. I know I was only about 5 when it was taken but I remember it as though it was yesterday. Mom & Dad took us kids to "Buffalo Ranch" in Afton, Oklahoma on a Sunday afternoon. I thought it was the coolest place ever and the day seemed endless. We rode in the car for what seemed like forever with the windows down (before air conditioning) and as the cool wind hit my face I remember it felt crisp. I know "crisp" sounds funny but that's what I thought it felt like, I'm sure if I were a dog I would be the one with my head stuck out the window as the car flew down the road. Anyway as the wind cooled my face I remember the sun warming my body in the places it hit. I loved going on little trips back then because as Dad was occupied with the car and Mom was busy making sure my baby sister Angie was ok and my big brother Jimmy was in his "I'm older than you" world I could see the land. I was always making up imaginary stories about the houses as we passed and the people who lived there, or pretended I owned all the horses or cows as we sped by the barbed wire fences. Going through the ticket booth on the turnpike was another adventure as I wondered what it was like to live in that little tiny house on the highway and people giving you money all the time. Why didn't he buy a bigger house with all that money. "Buffalo Ranch" sat right on the highway and they had every kind of animal and bird that all farms had but the one thing they had that sat them apart were the buffalo. Now I've always had a fascination for the big guy and at "Buffalo Ranch" the buffalo were so close you could hand feed them. "Oh wow, he's eating out of my hand" I was beside myself, Mom interrupted just to remind me that buffalo do have teeth. Some crazy man walked by complaining of the smell while his daughter let out a holler when she stepped in peacock pooh, I remember smiling because he wasn't my Dad & she wasn't my sister. We spent hours at the ranch looking at and petting all the animals, eating buffalo burgers at the dairy diner and looking and shopping in the souvenir store. "I've never seen so much neat stuff in one place all my life" this store had it all and every package was stamped "GENUINE". God bless Mom & Dads hearts, I know it was hard to say no so often especially after the often recited plea of "Please, I'll never ever ask for anything else as long as I live!"
Back to the picture, I know it cost Mom & Dad that day for the gas, the food, the time and the "GENUINE" Indian feather headdress, but the best investment that day was the money forked over for this photograph. I can't look at it without remembering with great excitement the day I spent at "Buffalo Ranch" with my family. I love you Mom & Dad! And you too Angie & Jimmy.
So friends the next time you have a little time, money, gas and the family take a "GENUINE" picture.
Sharing the Journey
Cha