I love the feeling you get when you go to college. I remember when I went. I loved the opportunity to become a knowledge sponge. I attended a Rogers State College in Claremore, Oklahoma to get my freshman and sophomore classes. Then I went to Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma to get an elementary teaching degree. Since I came from a large family with several younger siblings I didn't expect my Dad to help me very much financially and I didn't think I could afford to live in a dorm. When I went to Rogers State I was able to stay at home and pay for most of it myself.

When I went to Northeastern State University I really didn't want to drive the 80 miles every other day to attend class. By the grace of God I was able to live with a family and help them with their two children while I lived in their home for free. I loved living there it was a beautiful place. I wanted to write this blog just to describe it to you.

It was the nicest place I've ever lived. In Tahlequah the trees grow tall and thin and there are a lot of Dogwoods blooming in the Spring. I stayed with the Guffey family. They lived about a half mile off of the highway on a red dirt gravel road. They grow lots of strawberries in Tahlequah. Jolene Guffey's dad was really good at growing strawberries and tomatoes. He'd grow them in rocky soil. The rocks were small. He lived near a spring that came out of the side of a hill. If you followed the spring it would lead you in about a mile or so to the Guffey's home. They lived near a cliff and below was the spring. Steve Guffey had made stairs leading down to the spring. He had chipped them out of the black slate rock that made up the side of the cliff. There was also a deck they had built out over the spring. It was fun to wake up early in the morning and go stand out on the small deck that overlooked the spring and listen. It was relaxing to hear it's bubbly sounds. A little farther down the road where the spring met the road you could find watercress growing. Jolene Guffey liked to make salad with this. You could gather it by the edge of the water and then take it home. Sometimes Jolene would go mushroom hunting with her friend from work. Her friend was an expert and knew the difference between poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms. Then Jolene would cover them with a flour coating and fry them in hot oil. They lived in an old school building renovated into a home. It was half finished and junkie when they bought it for an exceptionally good price. It had been built as a very sturdy building by the WPA in the 1930's. The plaque was still on it near the cornerstone of the building. Above the door in the front was it's name "Lane School". It had been a brown brick school with one big room for the classroom. At the back was the kitchen cafeteria area. Steve told me how he had to use a jackhammer to make an entrance from the classroom to the kitchen area. The big brown rocks on the old schoolhouse were heavy and thick. They worked hard to make it beautiful. In their backyard they had an above ground swimming pool with a surrounding deck. The water in it came from the spring. I remember one time Jolene put a watermelon in it to keep it cool through the hot summer days. They Guffey family didn't use the pool very much. Sometimes when they would travel on the weekends I would have it all to myself. I wasn't much of a swimmer but it was fun to practice there. I would try to take a walk a couple of times a week down the dirt road. There were a few neighbors around but not too near to the Guffey's home. I'm glad when I went away to college I got to stay with them. They were a kind family and living in their home was a dream place for me.