I said I never wanted to get married, but then I met Troy.  I said I never wanted to have children, but then I met Huck.                 I said I never wanted to leave New York, but then I met Fayetteville!

I say a lot of things.  But truly, if ever there was a time when everything came together for the three of us, it was last week.  There was a teeny tiny part of me a little terrified that maybe we’d romanticized this place over the last year, but instead it felt even more delightful than we’d remembered. Huck was flabbergasted by all the green, challenging us to find some green-less spot somewhere, anywhere. Impossible! We spent the week at our friends Bob & Amy’s beautiful Mount Sequoyah home, just a little walk away from where we’ll be living. Our days were spent driving around various neighborhoods with the windows down, discovering new spots and remembering familiar ones.  We played at Lake Fayetteville and Gulley Park and Wilson Park, and Huck fell in love with all the creeks.  We took lots of walks up Mount Sequoyah, and in the woods we found a lucky horseshoe hanging from a tree which we took home with us. We hung out at the Fayetteville Public Library, whose terrace has an incredible view, and we walked around the town square. We experienced beautiful spring and chilly fall and an incredible thunderstorm.  We saw “Next to Normal” at TheatreSquared and “The Little Mermaid” at Arts Live Theatre, where I will be teaching drama camps this summer.  We spent an afternoon at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and another one at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks. We even checked out what will be our new and improved Target and Chuck E. Cheese, both offering refreshing culture shock to our New York City systems.  We met with theatre people and museum people and library people and shared ideas and history and jokes.  We ate out at amazing places, including Rick’s Bakery where they squirt the filling into the danishes right there in front of you. We saw deer, foxes, armadillos and salamanders. We visited St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and Huck’s new school Washington Elementary, both within walking distance of our house.  And speaking of our house, we drove (or walked) by it several times a day just to make sure we hadn’t imagined the whole beautiful thing.  And everywhere we went we experienced charming southern hospitality, always treated as if we were something special.  All of this we could get used to.

Huck’s main mode of transportation became a happy skip with arms flailing and mouth humming, and he got very good at taking over those mountain roads until a car could be heard slowly drawing near. One of the highlights of his life so far was sorting Amy’s thousands upon thousands of seashells and then having a Shell Cleaning Party on the back deck with the hose and a brand new bucket purchased for the occasion. And then there was Prego the cat, Huck’s favorite animal of all time. He may be leaving a lot of friends behind here in New York, but he’s sure got some great ones waiting for him in Arkansas.

And that swing set, too.

The Fayetteville Public Library

Downtown Bentonville

Mount Sequoyah Woods

Washington Elementary school yard

Crystal Bridges Museum

Crystal Bridges walking trails

Botanical Garden of the Ozarks

Bob & Amy

Huck’s special friend Prego

Shell Cleaning Party

Lake Fayetteville