Once Upon a Time: Taking the Right Turn

Taking the Right Turn. . .

That can Make All the Difference in the World

by Rita Thurman Barnes

Do you enjoy your birthday? You may or may not be aware of this bit of statistical information, but, if you fill a room with twentythree people (or more); it is likely that at least two of them will share a common birthday. My husband shares a birthday with several people in our own circle of friends and his birthday is March 7. So, on his big day a number of years ago we decided to set off on a little adventure to enjoy a nice lunch somewhere along the way.

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and not a cloud in the sky as we drove west on highway 60 toward Pawhuska. We didn’t feel prone to stop in that Osage County town so we went on searching. We soon found ourselves in the fair city of Fairfax, Okla. and remembered a nice café there where we had dined about a year before. We turned right off the main street and saw various and sundry vehicles parked in front of the Elm Street Cafe so my husband parked the car as we stretched our legs and made our entrée through the unlocked front door of the ancient refurbished building past a yellow piñata hovering on the breeze. We waited a couple of minutes for someone to seat us, but everyone just seemed to be roaming around enjoying themselves. Shortly the owner approached us and said, “Folks, I’m sorry. We’re closed today. This is a private family gathering.” I told him we had driven all the way from Bartlesville and were hunting a nice place to eat lunch. In typical Oklahoma fashion, he invited us to have a seat and proceeded to cook us up a steak dinner to die for.

When our salad was served, I mentioned that it was my husband’s birthday and that we were very appreciative of their kind hospitality. The owners introduced themselves as Jeff and Tracie Redden and said we had stumbled upon the celebration of their daughter’s second birthday. Jeff went away and soon came back with his in-laws, State Senator J. Berry Harrison (Osage County) and his lovely wife Jackie. It then seemed apparent to us that the whole group, including the Harrisons (grandparents of the birthday girl), were gathered at the cafe to enjoy Jolie Redden’s second birthday.

They treated us like long lost family members and Mrs. Senator Harrison even offered to refill our iced tea glasses. It was the first time my glass had ever been topped off by a senator’s wife! The meal was wonderful and a living definition of the word hospitality. Who would have thought that of all the directions we could have taken that day, that in veering to the west we would find a ready-made birthday party! It was indeed a serendipitous afternoon and we even shared in Jolie’s birthday cake.

J. Berry Harrison, 81, of Fairfax Oklahoma, former Rancher and State Senator, passed peacefully from this world Wednesday, October 21, 2020, at the OSU Medical Center in Tulsa due to complications following a stroke. And Jolie would now be just about 17 years old. Life takes some funny turns but sometimes at the end of an unanticipated destination you find the most delightful people. Look around you; the world is just full of them. Robert Frost said of taking the right turn; “that has made all the difference.”