I love Arizona.  As a mid-western raised young lady, born in Dallas, it was completely foreign to me until I was in my late teens. When I was a senior in high school, I was determined to find a university with a great art program.  My aunt, Genevieve Reckling, suggested that I look at the University of Arizona and Arizona State University.  It was the 1980’s, before the recession, and the arts were thriving in the world.  People were investing in art AND the stock market. Both schools had outstanding art programs.  And I trusted my aunt’s suggestion. She was a renowned Southwestern artist.  She was also my groovy, free-spirited, creative idol.

I visited the University of Arizona in January of 1988.  We arrived in the deep darkness of a winter evening.  I awoke the next morning, threw open the curtains out of curiosity, and discovered desert mountains, palm trees, cacti, and weather that allowed a mini-skirt for a winter college tour.  It.  Was.  Awesome.  And my father promised to visit anytime.  Clearly, he saw the warm, sunny weather to be a plus in the middle of winter.

I was accepted to three great universities.  But there was something special about the U of A and their art program.  I chose the big state school over the ritzy private universities.  And off I went in the fall of 1988 to be a Wildcat.  To rush and pledge Alpha Phi, to new friends, to self-discipline, to Mexico for the weekend, to an amazing education, to create, to discover independence.  College, and all it brought with it, was fabulous.

My parents came to celebrate my college graduation in May of 1992.  We took a day trip to Tubac, a small town colonized by artists, which lies south of Tucson.  I was sharing my post-graduation plans to intern at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City with an older gentleman in one of the art galleries.  He told me that I would be back…that I would miss Arizona…the big sky…the sunsets.

Well, he was correct.  I returned years later.  I worked as a paralegal.  I had been accepted to law school.  I met a wonderful man.  I had my first solo art show.  It was successful.  I declined law school.  I married.  I gave birth to my first child.  I began my journey as an Air Force spouse.  Great friendships and memories were created, once again, in Arizona.

After twenty years of numerous Air Force adventures around the globe, we luckily found our way back to Tucson last summer.  We are thrilled and inspired.  The desert, the mountains, the friendly people, the Wild Wild West are constant inspiration which we get to share with our children. Our teens love the desert.  Our oldest child is now a Wildcat.  BEAR DOWN.  And the desert inspiration and calm lives on! Life is inspired, simple, and good.

Arizona is special.  One of a kind.  I hope that at some point, everyone can experience this creative, vibrant and relaxing, warm and alive culture.  You will be inspired, as I have been, and not disappointed.