Highs and lows

Last week I had the opportunity to see the great state of Oklahoma at its highest and at its lowest.

On Friday, April 18, 2008, NBA owners approved the relocation of the Seattle Sonics to Oklahoma City.   It's no longer "if", it's now "when" will Oklahoma City be among the elite list of cities who can brag about a professional sports team. 

Personally, I'm excited!   My travels as a journalist have always landed me in big college towns - never a big league city.  Friday was a good day to be an Oklahoman and I'm excited to know I'll be here to witness sports history in the making.

Then came Saturday, April 19 - the 13^th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.

I was on my way to Stillwater Saturday morning to cover the "Remember the 10 Run" and as we passed near downtown at 8:00 a.m. I swear there was an odd feeling in the metro air. It's hard to describe and it may sound ridiculous, but it was almost like I could feel the sadness that draped over the city.  I sat there and thought about what it must have been like to have a beautiful day like Saturday suddenly turn into a bloodbath act of terrorism. 

I can still remember being in school back in Port Neches, Texas when we first heard of the bombing.  At the age of 16 and many miles away, I didn't think much of it at the time.  That was until I picked up our hometown paper the next morning and saw the very large and now infamous photo of the firefighter holding that baby in his arms.  I think at that point it hit me that this was not just another news story.

Fast forward to 2008. I'm now proud to be among the group of people who will remind the world of what happened here.  I'm a Texas native, but this is now my home and I'm proud to be here.