Oregon150

by Judy Collins
Eugene, OR

I was five years old when Oregon celebrated her 100th anniversary of statehood. There was a big Expo up in Portland, just north of the Portland Meadows racetrack. My parents took all of us to see many things. When we got to the animal barns, I wanted to stay and admire the oxen longer. Never had I seen such large, complacent cattle with such obvious strength! I felt it was imperative I make friends! Unfortunately, no one else in my family felt the magic of their smooth hides, warm breath and kind eyes. I was mesmerized. I was left! When had that happened?

Well, I felt that I had better take advantage of such an unusual circumstance! I carefully spoke to the friendliest looking big beast and leaned over and petted it softly. It was just as beautiful as it had looked. It was every bit as warm and muscular as I had imagined. Surprisingly, it seemed a bit alarmed at my touch, so I spoke very reassuringly to it and continued petting it. We did bond. When I had finished petting it, I did feel a bit of responsibility to find my family, so I debated about trying to run after them. Then I remembered that if I was ever lost in the woods, I was supposed to stay right where I was until someone came to find me.

I went back to the very first oxen & waited a bit, and then this stranger walked up to me and told me he was a detective. He wanted me to come with him to the Lost Children’s tent so my family could find me. I told him I wasn’t available to do that, as I was sure someone would come to find me with the oxen, and I didn’t want to disappoint them. He was put out by my lack of desire to be rescued, so he showed me his badge and told me that my family knew all about the Lost Children’s tent and that is where they would expect to find me. I asked him if my parents had known such a thing existed, why hadn’t they told us about it before I got lost? He got so frustrated and asked if I wanted to get kidnapped!! I told him, no, of course not, so then he said that I had to stay at the tent to be safe until my family came to find me.

I was greatly relieved that he did take me to the tent, and we had barely done all the paperwork when one of my brother’s came to claim me. I was mightily impressed that they had found me after all and was so excited about petting the great oxen that after sharing my story and getting the requisite scolding, I slept all the way back to Eugene!