the oklahoma sky.

I've been thinking a lot recently...about what a home is, about what matters at the end of the day, and about what's worth fighting for. About attitudes and viewpoints and people.

Friends matter.
Memories matter.
Love and strength and knowing who you are most certainly matter.
Your soul, what's in it, what it should be and who should see it--they matter too.

and of course there are less grandiose things that matter. like food and clothing and shelter, and laughter, and sunlight and warmth. having a sense of belonging, having a place or thing or idea to call your own.but it's you that matters the most. you being you. the real you.

and I've noticed too that there's something about Oklahomans that matters--it's a theme with many of the people I know who've moved away--it's the oklahoma sky. With its brilliance and its harshness and its welcoming clouds. And part of it, too, is the power of the horizon. The REAL horizon. Where the sky meets the land, without forests of trees or high-rises or subdivisions to impede it. And I know too why the horizon on the ocean isn't so impressive to me--it's because people don't build on the ocean. They don't permanently establish buildings there, not ones where the sky meets the water, anyhow. So it's not so significant that someone hasn't built upon that place.
In North Carolina all I see are trees. They freaked me out when I got here. And though I now really enjoy driving through them, I also miss my open spaces. And the Oklahoma sky. Here I'm only tempted to photograph the sky as a backdrop, or as a beautiful sunrise or sunset. But in Oklahoma, I wanted to capture it just as it was, just for being there.

And today, I miss it.