Top Eleven Things I Miss About Living in Searcy

Despite their big 80’s hair, Cinderella was right - you don’t know what you got till it’s gone. Well, I guess I did know some of these things or else I wouldn't have spent the month of March seriously dehydrated from crying. But now that we’ve been gone almost five months, here are the things I miss the most.

11. The Scrapbook Attic and Monthly Crops at the church: There is one place here in Ashland to buy what I need to feed my addiction and I was not impressed. While the staff at the shop on Race Street in Searcy wasn’t the friendliest, they knew how to meet my photo archival needs. I haven’t scrapped since February, and those who know me well, know that is a HUGE deal. I think a part of that has been because it’s not easy to get the things I need. But a bigger part of it has been that I no longer get together with the same people once a month and crop. I miss being together, the scheduled time to work on my books and the selection of stuff to use that was on hand. Fellow croppers – never fear. I will be caught up at the end of this week!
10. Sonic, Grandpas, Lenny's and Doc’s Grill: Funny that when you live there, you think you have to drive to Little Rock to go to a “decent” restaurant. But there is no place I’d rather go for BBQ than Grandpas, there are NO fast foods places with decent drinks besides Sonic, Wednesday nights seem incomplete without dinner at Lenny's and sometimes I wake up at night craving Doc’s Nachos and a salad with their house dressing. Last week I was even wanting the Pizza Pro buffet!! And speaking of buffetts, Ryan’s buffet is SO much better than Ponderosa or Golden Corrall.
9. Gaucho’s: You do have to drive to Little Rock for this one. Gaucho’s is a Brazilian churrascaria. For those uninformed on Brazilian cuisine, it’s stinkin' delicious. At Gaucho’s, they skewer fifteen different meats and cook them over an open flame. It’s kind of like American BBQ only instead of using beef chopped and smashed into patties or long skinny pieces of meat parts, they use the good stuff: top roast, bottom roast, ribs, lamb, parmesan chicken, sausage, meatballs, pork loin … the list goes on. And of course, the pineapple. We’ve tried to do it at home and it’s not the same.
8. Super Walmart: Another thing that when you live in Searcy you don’t think too highly of, but when there isn’t one around, you wonder how the world ever made it befre Sam Walton. Here in Ashland we’ve existed for years with a regular Walmart and a bunch of grocery stores. As of 7 a.m. tomorrow, we move into the “Super” world. I like the grocery stores here, but when you’re dragging two kids around with you, one stop shopping is awesome.
7. People I Could Drop In On: Boy could I use it right now. Jimmy is gone this week and I have very little back-up. When I get bored I want to shop, but in Searcy, I could go to someone's house to kill time. There, I knew I could drop in on Heather or Kami or Elena any time of day. We didn’t have to have plans to get together, we just got together. So the kids could play, sure. But really, so the moms could play. Let the kids entertain each other! In defense, today I did spend a while at the Slaters' house. It was scheduled, but it still served it's purpose: good conversation and distracted children, all without denting my checking account.
8. Educated Friends with Kids: While we’re on the topic, it’s funny that when I mention that we moved here from Arkansas, people think we lived in hill-billy heaven. Not so. Searcy is not nearly as hick as Ashland is. Probably because of the university’s influence there, or maybe it was just the circles we traveled in, but I miss my kids having friends with decent grammar. “Him” is not cute and “her” does not have curly hair. The County fair, though lots of fun and full of great food, is hardly a reason to close school, but they have to since 97.6% of the kids in town have a pig or a cow or a chicken to show.
5. Downtown: How do you leave a church where the leadership consists of such strong men of prayer, where the services are not about maintaining any certain traditions, but about worshipping God and edifying brothers and sisters? How do you leave a church family with people your age and such a heart for growing children of faith. If anyone in Searcy reads this, please print it and bring it to James McDuffie. (Abby was on my lap at a breakfast this weekend and they sang Listen to our Hearts. She sang “on no” and looked at me and said, “Mommy, I miss James.”)
4. Children’s Church: I want my children to know how to sit quietly in church, but I also want occasional times to be able to focus 100% on the service. At Downtown we were able to do both. Two Sundays a month Abby sat with us. She sang along, bowed her head … and got to color during the sermon. The other two Sundays she went with the rest of the kids to a kids’ service. They sang kid songs and grown up songs, the lesson was presented on their level. It was always interesting that when we left on weeks without Children’s Church, she talked about her friends or her Bible class. But when she had gone upstairs, she talked about that service.
3. Big Momma and Pawpaw: All the Woodells, really. The family you choose doesn’t replace the family you were born into, but there is something … different about growing into a family, as opposed to being born into one. Not to minimize your family of origin, but there is something unique about meeting two people, who through their love and prayers and wisdom and laughter and more prayers become like parents to you. Abby stayed with them when I was in the hospital having Cooper. I helped their youngest son get a wife and their oldest son gave Jimmy an awesome job. Their daughters-in-law were great girlfriends to me and their grandchildren were like cousins to Abby and Cooper. I love Roger and Andrea Kondrup, but I think even they are thankful that over the course of my life, God has given me other “parents” to learn from and love.
2. The Wyatts: I never expected the friendship. We became friends when Teresa ditched us and moved to South Carolina. I held their son when he weighed about 5 lbs. and marveled as I watched Landon and Lainey grow. It was nice being friends with your dentist, although a little awkward at times. And last December put a permanent seal on our places in each other's hearts. We never know where the most precious people in our lives will come from. It's funny that we can sit in a room with someone for a year and not know that down the road, we might save their life, and they might save our spirit.
1. MOPS: A sisterhood. A common ground. People with families like yours, interests like yours, goals like yours, and ideals like yours. Lots of similarities, and yet a great diversity, unified by having little people in our lives not yet in school. Twenty-five women you could talk about anything with: child-rearing, body image, traveling, depression, sex, marriage … But for me, even more special than all twenty-five were the seven or eight who led the group together. I was friends with them all, but I wouldn't say close friends. But I was close to our group. And I miss them all - Angie, Dijana, Nicole, Tia, April, Brenda, Heather and Kami. I miss working together and the craziness the day of the meetings. I miss praying together.

I know that life goes on. I know that leaving anywhere is hard and you wonder how you’ll make it somewhere else. And I know that one day a few years down the road, you wake up and think, “Who was I before I lived here?” And I guess what I’ll keep hoping is that just as I carried Sea Bright, NJ, Abilene, TX, Riverhead, NY, and Rumson, NJ with me, I will carry Searcy, AR with me as well. I don't know if I'll ever get back there - and I'm not sure I'll ever entirely leave.