My Lovely Oklahoma (C) Chapters 1-10*

I love you, my dear. You complete me in the same way that the rain satisfies the earth when it touches the dry, unforgiving ground and blesses it with life. I love you in the same way that the sun sets on the field with warm, comforting hands and the glow of rebirth blankets the barren land. From the beginning of my life, you raised me, you innocently guided me into finding myself , blindly dragging me and my dirt-covered soul, laughing all the way with shining eyes and a smile like the pale moon over the fields. I've loved you so wholeheartedly that if one day I were to leave you behind, I would not know what to do with myself. The land I left behind would die, as would my heart; they are connected as one and always will be. Your "hard, foot-beaten ground"(38) is the floor in the room of my soul.

 But Oklahoma, my dear, my darling, my beloved, I cannot seem to forget how you've made me feel all these years. You watched me grow and in times of both pain and success, you watched me with eager eyes and tightly pressed together your pretty parched lips as you saw me struggle to keep the dying land alive. As I walk across you I "feel the warmth and power of the earth" (35) which keeps me close to your heart. I will never find another love like you.

"The great crawlers moving like insects" (35) came, and when they did I prayed that they would not ruin my only true love. "They ignored hills and gulches, water courses, fences, houses," (35) but most importantly, they ignored my heart.