I had no business leavin’ and nobody would be grievin’
If I went on back to Tulsa time— Daniel Flowers
Tuesday, June 4: I drove in to Tulsa from Kansas on US-412, a four-lane highway that becomes Sand Springs Expressway west of the city.
When Tulsa skyline came into view, I started looking for an exit to avoid the freeway interchange that lay ahead. I saw an exit for Riverside Drive and took it.
Tulsa, Oklahoma – Population (Metro Area) 978,000 – Elevation 722′
Tulsa was the Big City when I was growing up in Bristow, which is about 40 miles away.
After my best friend Joyce moved to Tulsa in the ninth grade, I spent a lot of weekends and summers with her, and it was where I moved after graduating from high school. College was not in my mindset then — going to work and getting an apartment in Tulsa was my small-town goal.
So Tulsa holds a lot of memories. One of my objectives on this trip was to reconsider living there.
Riverside Drive follows the Arkansas River through downtown near my old neighborhood and flows past Marlon and Jeri’s neighborhood in South Tulsa.
I arrived at their gate just in time for happy hour.
They met me at the door, Marlon quipping as always about all my tote bags.
Just like Mom, he said.
After Annie settled down, we had a glass of wine and caught up on each other’s lives.
Pros and Cons of Living in Tulsa
PROS
Family. The biggest advantage of living in Tulsa is having Marlon and Jeri nearby and being able to watch Darci’s children and Derek’s children grow up, the way I had watched Darci and Derek grow up in Houston in the 80s.
Good restaurants. We always go to outstanding restaurants when I’m there. This time it was Yokozuna, an Asian fusion and sushi restaurant where I had one of the best salmon dishes ever. In February, it had been Stonehorse Cafe in the trendy Midtown area. There are dozens more.
Culture. Tulsa has its fair share of culture — I don’t always partake but I like knowing it’s there : )
Friendly people. Tulsans are the best of the Heartland — friendly and welcoming and the kind of people who’ll do anything for a neighbor. A few years ago I was driving slowly down 31st Street in a car with California license plates when a woman pulled up beside me and rolled down her window and said, Honey, you look lost. Can I help you find whoever you’re looking for?
Lolly. Lolly is Darci’s six-month-old GoldenDoodle. She wanted so badly to play with Annie, but Annie was just about as tolerant of her as Cynthia’s MeMe was tolerant of Annie at that age.
There was one breakthrough when they chased each other playfully around the yard, and I think they might eventually become playmates.
Other. Low elevation . . . affordable housing. . . . first rate medical facilities.
CONS
Extreme weather. Ice storms in the winter. Hot and muggy summers . . . and those capricious, destructive tornadoes that are increasing in frequency and deadliness.
The reddest of red states. Oklahoma is a deep red state, full of Trump supporters including my family. (Jeri calls Trump an arrogant narcissistic son of a bitch . . . but she still supports him!)
Where will I find my political brothers and sisters? How can I meet new people and keep my mouth shut — or open my mouth and alienate whomever I’m talking to?
I looked up the number of Democrats in Tulsa — 125,000 out of almost 1 million souls. To find them I might have to volunteer on Kamala or Mayor Pete’s campaign — if they even have a campaign office in Tulsa.
Once Trump is out of office, politics shouldn’t be an issue. I lived in Houston for almost 25 years, and all my friends were Republican. We would have election-night parties at Paul and Dayle’s, where I and the housekeeper would be the only Democrats. But those were kinder, gentler times.
Or so it seems in retrospect.
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