Volume 7 , Issue 26

Classic Bugs Swarm NW Oklahoma...

Old Bugs are never forgotten. They just go through a metaphoric stage of their life after high school and college graduations. For some it can be quite a transformation... from cacoon to butterfly to soaring eagle.

This particular Classic Bug (or Bugette) transformed from a shy, reserved young thing into a soaring eagle across NW Oklahoma all the way to SW Colorado.

It began with the first day of the first weekend of July 2005 when this "Classic" Bugette gathered for her 39th high school Reunion, in Alva!

Have you ever walked into a room full of "Classics" not really knowing who, what you will encounter? AND... what about that strange dorky, looking senior picture you leave behind in your school annual? Did you ever look at that somewhat UN-photogenic snapshot and ask yourself, "Did I really look like that?"

I would have to say that I was extremely introverted, shy and reserved during my school days in NW Oklahoma. It took a lot for this soaring eagle to come out of her cacoon and shell to soar the NW Oklahoma skies.

It was slow, protected process in the beginning, BUT... after that first step, it wasn't so bad.

You ask, "How shy were you? Can anyone ever be that reserved?" Yes! AND... I don't believe I could begin to tell you here how shy I was in school. It would take a book! Maybe someday that book will happen. I did not date until my sophomore year in College. That does not mean I did not have a few silent crushes on guys back then. Didn't most of us?

It is easier looking back -- laughing about it all now. I have realized over those 39 years that it is easier for me to write than be the talkative conversationalist like my other sisters. Probably because it gives me a chance to think about what I want to say.

It is an interesting metamorphic stage of life that we go through, isn't it? It took me almost 50-something years -- writing a weekly newsletter -- designing webpages -- researching & compiling NW Oklahoma and family legacies to finally feel comfortable with myself. I am still more comfortable writing than I am talking, though. I realize I am a better listener & writer than a talker. You can learn so much more listening and observing than you can talking. Depending what it is.

Even though you take that last step through the high school & college gates, you never really stop learning, growing and expanding your life. It is really just another beginning of a NEW era! AND... hopefully aging gracefully over the years and breaking away from that self-made cacoon you always seem to build around yourself for protection.

I always thought that in each of us there is a made rather than born open-road traveler trying to emerge. A traveler that simple moseys down the twisting, curving path of life -- seeking out the simply things in life -- going into the country as an openly romantic about the going itself, for the adventurous possibility of it all. Each of us creates memories, images of what we find. We might take everything to heart, sharing their keepsakes through a love for it all.   |  View or Add Comments (3 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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