Mamasita-Here's Your Sign...

"Who doesn't know what I'm talking about?
Who's never left home, who's never struck out
To find a dream and a life of their own
A place in the clouds, a foundation of stone

Many precede and many will follow
A young girl's dream no longer hollow
It takes the shape of a place out west
But what it holds for her, she hasn't yet guessed

[Chorus:]
She needs wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the high stakes

She traveled this road as a child
Wide eyed and grinning, she never tired
But now she won't be coming back with the rest
If these are life's lessons, she'll take this test

She needs wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the high stakes

Wide Open Spaces-Lyrics by the Dixie Chicks

The Arrival
Well, if I needed a sign that things are going to be okay, I certainly got it. Check out the sign at Mamasita's restaurant: "Smokin! Women Welcome". I'm asking you, "Could I plan these things if I tried?!" Mamasita's is a restaurant with great ambiance that serves delicious Mexican food. The wait staff is friendly and accomodating as well.

While in Oklahoma, I found the people are very friendly, and the city easily navigable. One day, one of my drivers gave me a brief history of some points of the city. He was a native from Boley. Boley was an all Black town, which was settled in the days of the Wild West. According to legend, in its hey day, Pretty Boy Floyd told his posse to go rob the black folk’s bank in Boley. Well, the citizens of Boley were not going to have that, and took his posse out when they arrived. On that fateful day, things were not ok for PBF’s posse! I found that to be an interesting tidbit of history.

During the course of conversation, Kurt (not his real name) asked me if I had been to Oklahoma before. I had. His question prompted me to thinking about that time. You see, I had been to OK to see my boyfriend (at the time) graduate from University. I hadn’t seen much more of OK than the campus back then. When Kurt asked when that was, my reply to his question caught me off-guard. I had to think about it, and recheck my math. Then I had to think about it again. When I told him how long ago it was, he said that couldn’t be right, so we both did the math again. It had been almost 20 years!!! “That can’t be right!” He said. “I know!!!!” I said. “You don’t look old enough to have been here 20 years ago.” He said. “I know!!!” I said. But it was true, I was old enough, and I am old enough. That was a wild west moment to realize that I am old enough to have sown some oats twenty years ago. But I am young enough still to be able to remember them, and to sow some more-mind you.

As I was walking into my hotel a tall, dark and handsome man said "Hey." to me as he was leaving. I was too tired and road weary to think much about it or respond with more than a "Hey." back. It wasn't until I got to the front-desk that the woman behind the counter asked me if I knew who that was. I am not into sports, so I didn't. It was a player for one of the teams playing the next night. That was certainly a nice way to get this adventure started!

Once I had checked into my hotel, I checked to see if any of my co-workers had arrived. None had. I went to the hotel restaurant and partook of brunch. I was exhausted and famished. It was there that I met Clive (not his real name), the distinguished restaurant manager. I was sitting there thinking (read: staring into space) when he came over to me and said “My grandmother told me that all beautiful women should have a smile on their face.” I looked up at him with my mouth full of food, and tried to smile, since I gathered he was speaking about me.

He laughed and said, “I will wait until you are done.” Once finished, I smiled and said, “Thank you, but I hope she didn’t tell you that they should smile with their mouth full of food!” He started to laugh and said, “No, no she wouldn’t have said that!” “Well, I would think not.” I laughed. He then engaged me in a rather long but enjoyable and informative conversation and invited me back the following night to dine. As it would turn out, I never had time to make it back to the hotel restaurant -not for dinner anyway.

For, it was my destiny to meet a playa player...

To be continued...

Copyright 2006