Two Is Enough

Let’s start

By Vic Midyett

Shirley & I were gratified recently when Moristotle asked us to please continue doing a column, maybe called “Thunder Up Over,” to carry on from “Thunder Down Under,” or something mentioning Oklahoma or Tahlequah, where we live in Oklahoma, back in our own house on our own acreage.
    Shirley & I liked getting Tahlequah into it somehow, and it just so happens that “Tah le quah” (in the Cherokee language) means “Two is/are enough.” Moristotle explained that “are” would work if “two” were referring to two individuals, as individuals, and “is” would go with “two” referring to a couple, as a couple. We all three (Shirley & Moristotle & I) liked the “is” version, which explains the name of our column. Three, of course, would be a crowd, but this is Shirley’s & my column, and two is enough.

Thanks to Wikipedia for providing some basic information to orient everyone as to what and where Tahlequah is (I edited the following excerpt):

Tahlequah (/ˈtæləkwɑː/ TAL-ə-kwah; Cherokee: ᏓᎵᏆ) is the county seat of Cherokee County, Oklahoma, United States, located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It was established as the capital of the 19th-century Cherokee Nation in 1839, as part of the new settlement in Indian Territory after the Cherokee Native Americans were forced west from the American Southeast on the Trail of Tears. Tahlequah’s population was 15,753 in 2010. The 2020 census figures aren’t in yet.

    The main campus of Northeastern State University is located in Tahlequah. When NSU is in session, the population of Tahlequah effectively doubles or triples. Shirley taught there for a semester in the ’90s, and what was really cool is that her office was in the top of that round bit in the photo. No other lecturer wanted it (possibly because they couldn’t tell someone to “go sit in the corner”?).

I am sure that this photo, which I found on the net, is not of the place I know within five miles of our home here, but it sure could be. It looks just like the place where Shirley’s dad and I would take walks. In fact, many years ago, I took a 35mm picture of it at the same time of year (winter) as this photo seems to have been taken, and I took it at the same angle. I know this photo isn’t of the same place, but WOW, what a pretty sight it is, and what tender memories it brings up for me. Blessings can come from the most unusual places, can’t they?

Shirley’s mom was born in Tahlequah, retired here, and passed away here. Shirley’s grandmother lived just outside of town, where her grandfather was the postmaster of the little community of Tuscania, which is no longer.
    The little community grew large enough for the residents to build a school, however. They had not given it a name yet, and on the first day of school, when more children showed up than the building could accommodate and the number of books could supply, someone asked what they were going to call the school. Shirley’s grandmother said, “Well, we already need more room and supplies, so let’s call it ‘Needmore’.” That name stuck and, while the old school building has fallen into disrepair, the entire area is still called Needmore Hollow. (Or “holler,” as “hollow” is pronounced here.)

When I arrived in Tahlequah for the first time, in 1985, I fell in love with it immediately and felt like I had “come home.” I have an unexplainable spiritual connection here, presumably because of my Cherokee – unmeasurable or unscientific – DNA. There are things in this life and world that you cannot put your “proof finger” on, but you know to be real.
    Shirley, too, is part Cherokee. “Tah le quah” suits us both. We are one.

Copyright © 2020 by Victor L. Midyett & Shirley Deane/Midyett