From The Lake Isle of Innisfree

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

NOTHING could have prepared me for how much I would grow to love Oklahoma. #OkieLove I am a Native New Yorker who swore I would never spend more than a four year in this state after being "exiled" here due to military assignment. Yet, I have moved away and moved back all in the short span of two years. There's something to be said about our beautiful man made lakes, blue angry skies, tornadoes, wind storms, beautiful green fields (yes very green) and how content people are to live in a state with only two big cities. It's like we have created our own little tiny bubble of happiness that the rest of the world is so quick to dismiss. Sure, nothing is perfect. But this state is perfect for my life right now. It has welcomed me back into it's loving arms. On the cusp of summer, I find myself venturing to Oklahoma's famed Grand Lake and Keystone Lake more often than ever before.