Sun City, USA

Sun City, Arizona---How do you know you are in Sun City? Someone passes you with a golf cart.

I would not call this an "active living" community. Maybe it was when it was first built. Sun City Arizona was the first 55+ adult communities in the country. On New Year’s Day 1960 Del Webb, a builder, opened their doors to the public. Years of anticipation led to a big surprise: 100,000 visitors showed up the first weekend. Del Webb went on to sell 400 homes in the first month and 2,000 in the first year making Sun City one of the most popular communities. Between 1960 and 1978, Del Webb continued to build a community that catered to the retirement dreams of thousands of Americans. It is now home to over 44,000 full and part-time residents and it now has over 26,000 homes and 11 golf courses.

But it opened 53 years ago and now they are all shopping in slow motion at Albertsons and they are all over 90. 

This retirement mecca has some peculiar points. For one, they paint the bottom of their trees white. I remember people doing this in my hometown in Kansas. It was said to treat bugs. But it does make everything look really tidy. Next, they have a particular white cement fence that encloses their neighborhoods. Finally, no one is out in their yards, perhaps it's because of the heat, but besides some golf carts in the middle of regular car lanes and amongst the regular traffic, the neighborhoods are vacant. However, the cacti are beautifully landscaped on the yards and road mediums.

My friend volunteers once a week to work the register in a thrift store. But this is not any shop, this is one located in a strip center filled with thrift shops, a very popular activity for those on fixed income. They were having a 50% off of vintage Tupperware that day and okay, I found one of those rolling pins that you can put ice water in and now I'm imagining how much better the pie dough that I have never made will end up.

The slogan under the Sun City welcome sign says "City of Volunteers." They are not kidding as the one thrift store that my friend helps with has 300 volunteers. She is the youngest and drops the age of her co-workers by at least 20 years. Her boss is 85.

I went into a Safeway grocery store and they must have beat up a Target Exec because in Sun City, THEY have the corner on having a Starbucks inside the store. The stark difference was what is normally a chirpy barista were two grouchy old women behind the counter that were snapping at each other. I ordered my cappuccino and got a latte. When I asked about it she changed what she had called out and said that's what she meant to say. I picked it up and it was a full blown all-milk latte with no froth. I said nothing. Frankly I was scared of the cashier, she might have been in her late 70's but I was pretty sure she could take me.

Now I am not against older people especially since I hope to be one some day. And I know that I probably just saw a small portion of "Sun City" but I hope that I will not live in a concentrated commune of the same age group. Or move to a warm place just to stay inside. Or maybe I will.