Thursday, September 16, 2010

Oklahoma State University....A Family Tradition



Mike and I had parents who came to OSU. My dad was here in the 1940's before he went to WWII. Jack, my dad, graduated from high school when he was 16 years old. He came to OSU to school. My mom and dad both graduated from high school in 1940. Mom was 15 months older than dad. She went to Cameron and then on to a Business school in OKC. They were married in Lawton, OK on August 16, 1941. They lived in Stillwater while Dad went to school. Dad went back to the farm first and then was drafted into the Navy. Mervin was born in 1944 and Dad was sent to San Diego, CA for training. When he got out of the Navy after the war there were no places to live in Stillwater, so he did not ever get to go back and finish at OSU. He was busy farming and ranching on the Grandview Shorthorn Ranch between Oney and Fort Cobb.

Pat, Mike's Dad, went to OSU too. He was there in the 1950's. Mike is the oldest in his family and I was the youngest in my family so my parents were closer to his grandparents age than his parents. Mike and Butch were both born while Pat was in school at OSU. Pat graduated with a degree in Dairy Science.

My two brothers got their degree from OSU. Merv in Animal Science and David in Human Physiology. David went on the get his dental degree from Creighton. Mike has one brother Butch who is younger than him that got his degree in Ag Econ from OSU. Matt went to OSU Okmulgee in diesel mechanics in 1979 and graduated in 1981.

Mike and I both went to OSU. I got my degree in Family Relations Child Development in 1976. Mike did not finish his degree. He decided to go to OSU Okmulgee to become a carpenter. Well, to make a long story short we decided to come back to Caddo County and farm. The McComas/Deason/Rogers families are deep rooted in Oklahoma State University. Mike and I counted Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins one time who have attended school at OSU and we came up with around 70 family members who went to school there. 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to say that we have two daughters who have their degree from OSU. Krista and Amanda both have their degree in Sociology and Wes, Krista's husband also graduated from OSU. We also have 3 nieces and nephews who have OSU degrees.

I taught school for about 35 years. Students would walk into my room to find OSU posters all over the walls. Then they would ask why I was an OSU fan. I would explain that is where I went to school, and that is where all of my family had gone to school so of course we are OSU fans. So when people say, why aren't you OU fans, and I explain to them our family tradition and they still want to know Why? I just give up. Here's your sign. I am an OU fan for the most part as long as they are not playing OSU, but I have had a few people in my life that have made that hard to do. I try to be positive. I try to just cheer for my team and not put any other teams down. It is just more fun to be where everyone is for your team. In all the years I have been going to football games, I have only been to 1 away game. It was at Mississippi State. There were 40,000 cowbells ringing for the bulldogs. I hated it. Like I say, I just like going to the games where the crowd is mainly OSU. 

There are many things about OSU that we love. The kids love Pistol Pete. All kids do. One time when Ryan was young we were sitting on the front row on the North side at a game and Pistol Pete came got Ryan and lifted him over the wall and took him down on the field with him. Now we also have Bullet and our grands can not wait for Bullet to come out on the field. They love singing the songs and watching the band. They love to go to the walk two hours before the game, to listen to the band and see Pistol Pete.

The McComas family loves wrestling and we very seldom miss a wrestling match at OSU either. Now I have been known to go to away wrestling matches. OSU has such a wonderful history and tradition in wrestling. They are the winning-est university in the nation. Krista still lives in Stillwater and works for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Ryan would have loved to wrestle for OSU, but was proud to wrestle for USMC, West Point, and serve his country. He loved his Cowboys though and stayed loyal to them, even in NY.
These three love coming to the games with us.  We get there early so they can see everything.
Amara is walking around like she owns the place. LOL
Amara is having a great time jumping.


The North side of the stadium has a Fun Zone.  The boys were interested in throwing the football and Amara was interested in the jump.  Here they are just looking around trying to decide what to do next.

Mike with Amara and Dominic ready to go to the first game.  Two, two year olds is fun.  They love going with us to the games though.  Mike and I have been going to the games since 1973 when we were both students.  We have had season tickets off and on since we moved from OSU.  Sometimes we just didn't have the money or the time to come.  We did the family fun zone for years.  We have had these four tickets for about 15 years now.  We love our seats and the people who we sit with.  Hope these kids love it as much as we do.. I think they do.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Bop the best Grandfather I know!


     I love my grandchildren more than anything else.  Yes, I think Mike knows this. LOL  I also have figured out that loving my family and putting their welfare first is what God wants and it is one way that I serve him.  I never could figure out how you put God infront of family.  It is God's plan for you to take care of your family and by doing so you are putting God first.  Of course this is just one way to serve God and glorify him, but it is ONE way.  That being said, Mike and I try to do all we can to spend time with our Grandchildren.  Mike has given up most of his other vices to be the best "Bop" I know.  When he could be out fishing, flying or playing golf, he is with his Grands.  Mike has days off in the middle of the week and sometimes works weekends.  He has used this time for the last 5 years to go see his grands.  He has been known to  drive 2 hours to see Dominic.  They go to the park, go to OSU to the dairy barn, or just play with his toys at home, but he makes sure he spends time with each one.  He did all of these things with JJ before he started to school.
     Now he has not done as well with Amara.  He asked me one day, "What do you do with a girl.?" I told him she would like to do the same things as the boys.  He is getting better with her and now that I am reatired we will be able to go together to see Dominic and also to go spend time with Amara by herself too.  She is older and he does better after they are at least 2.  Amara was 2 in July.  Amara used to look for me when we came to her house, but now she too has started to ask for Bop, just like the boys.
     Mike was so very busy while we were raising our own children and also working shift work that he did not get to do as much with them as he would have liked.  There were times when he was working 2 jobs plus trying to run a farm/ranch.  He did more than he thinks but not as much as he thinks he should.  Things are different with these Grands.  He has soooo much more patients with them. 
     I think God intended for grandparents be there for their grandchildren.  Parents have so many things to do and think about while they are raising their children.  I know that my mom was a huge help for us.  She tried her best to keep us grounded while we raised our kids.  She was really the only grandparent my kids had.  My dad died when Ryan was 3 months old, Mike's mom got sick when Krista was 3 months old, Mike's dad died when the kids were all still young, so I think my mom felt that she needed to be their for our kids.  She was great at it.  Amanda being the baby of all of her grandchildren may have gotten the most attention.  The kids stayed with Mom 1 at a time.  She kept all three one time and when we got back, she told me that she would still keep our kids, but 1 at a time. LOL  When you have 3 kids anywhere there is always an odd man out.  Of course it was always Ryan and one of the girls.  He was never odd man out.  Both girls thought he hung the moon.
     Bop, as JJ named Mike, decided when JJ was born that all the other things that he had done were not as important as spending time with his grandchildren.  I can tell you he has changed more diapers on these grands than he ever even thought about with his own children.  I am just glad he figured out how to do it.  If you have someone who needs help learning how to be a good Grandfather, send them to follow Mike around for a day.  His grands are spoiled, but he has not gotten so soft that he forgot how to correct a child when they need it.  Oh yes, I almost forgot, Mike has read more kids books in the past 5 years than anyone I know.  All three of our grands love books.  "Bop read to me", is heard over and over every day.  Who would have thought Mike would read Goodnight Moon until he had it almost memorized.  That is a fovorite of all three. 
     I just have to say it again.  If they give out an award for the best grandfather...Mike should win!


Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Dominic at the Park

When we got back from Arizona, we went straight to OKC to pick up Tino, but mainly to see JJ and Amara.  That was on Tuesday.  We rested one day and then took off to Stillwater to see Dominic.  Well, that was the plan, but Krista got stranded in Memphis for several hours and ended up coming into OKC airport after 10 PM, so we went to pick her up and we went to Stillwater on Wednesday night.  We took Dominic to eat pancakes and fruit for breakfast and then we were off to his favorite thing to do....Go to the park.  He is always so excited to see his Bop and go to the park.  I know this says I wrote this on Sept. 1, 2010, but the pics were taken on August 26, 2010.



Dominic and Mike aka "Bop" are best buds.  Don't they just look alike.  Dominic looks so much like his Bop that it isn't even funny.  He is built like him and has those beautiful baby blues.  The biggest difference is Mike never had blond hair.  His hair was almost black, before it turn white, LOL.


Mike teases this little boy so hard, and he has such a a good sense of humor.  He just says oh Bop, and smiles.  He gets so excited when he is telling us a story.  His favorite subject is his older cousin JJ.  He loves his cousins JJ and Amara. and he loves to talk about them.  Mike was known to some of his nieces as Uncle Tease.  No matter how hard he teases all of these kids they all just think he is great.  No one else on earth could do that but him.  That's just the way he is.

County Fair

T


JJ and Amara spent the weekend with us this last weekend.  We took them to the Grady County Fair.  They like to ride on the rides at the carnival, but I think they also liked the gun fight with actors dressed up like they dressed in the old days.  We also took them in and let them watch the young exhibitors show their animals.  We got there just in time to see them slap the Grand Champion Steer.  We also watched the showmanship contest.  Then they wanted to get on the tractors and four wheelers to pretend they were driving.  What good clean entertainment and all but the carnival was free.  We also paid for them to ride the "live" ponies.


All this brought back memories of my family.  We raised Registered Shorthorn Cattle and I showed those cattle from the time I was 9 years old until I was 18 or so.  That was the bread and butter for our family.  We had some very good times and memories from those days.  The family that works together...that was us.