For ten years, I resided in Sun City, Arizona. Sun City, for those who may not know, is a retirement community. And, as I was a Realtor in Sun City and the surrounding area, I can tell you the residential laws of said retirement community; namely, that one person in a household must be at least 55 years of age and no residents can be under 19 years of age.
There ought to be sociological studies done on places like Sun City or the many Florida retirement communities that our Michigan residents, and others in snow laden climates tend to flock to. Imagine a community, and, in Sun City's case, a rather large community (population approximately 46,000) with absolutely no children. Therefore,there are no schools, no playgrounds, and only the occasional crying baby in church when grandchildren are visiting. There are no teenagers (I will let readers decide if this is a bad thing). Imagine, no loud bass music vibrating down the street when low riders drive by. No noisy parties, no graffiti (sorry, but we know that teens tend to like to "decorate"), no cruising and no kids loitering about at the McDonald's parking lot. And, Sun City is very, very quiet. The first night I arrived there, I took a walk around the block at about 9:00pm. I didn't see one person, or, in fact, one single moving vehicle. Admittedly, it was in the middle of July, when Sun City is quieter for two reasons. First, it was probably about 100 degrees Fahrenheit and only idiots are out walking in that sort of temperature, and, secondly, the smart ones and those with a few dollars in their pockets tended to head back to lovely summer homes in places like Michigan.
When Del Webb created Sun City in 1961, there was a lot of speculation that it would be a flop. Well, I can report that Del laughed all the way to the bank. People were literally lined up to purchase his little two bedroom, one bath tiny homes. Over the years, I sold many of these little block constructed numbers--they look as if they were homes constructed for munch-kins. But that first day Sun City opened, people were fighting over these homes. Del's idea was to make a community where one would never want for activity. Sun City is replete with golf courses, pools, huge activity centers and, best of all, very wide streets. This allows not only for the erratic activities of some of our senior drivers, but for the plethora of golf carts that, in Sun City, are street legal. Actually, I found the street planning in Sun City to be very bizarre, especially for a community of elder folks. One would think that a grid would be the most logical way to lay out streets in such a place. But in Sun City, the streets are actually circular (see photo on Amazon link below). If you turn right onto a street, you may be heading north, but soon you will be heading east, then south, and then west and you'll end up back where you started. It's very confusing. When I first took folks out to show them homes, I often got lost, and ended up literally going in circles. It's all quite dizzying.
Sun City is a place where, if, in greeting someone, you ask "how are you", you need to be prepared for the real, somewhat lengthy answer, which often will detail various visits to doctors and specialists. I learned a tremendous amount about various health issues during my time there, because health issues always dominated every conversation. Smack in the center of Sun City is Boswell Memorial Hospital. Because, of course, with age not only comes leisure time, but also health problems. So, along with grocery stores in extremely convenient locales, every major street corner seems to contain a doctor's office, an optometrist, a dentist, or other specialists. Oh, and, of course, a Walgreens or CVS pharmacy. Del thought of it all, I guess.
When I first moved there, I found it all a little depressing. I remember going out to dinner one evening to a local Sun City restaurant--they all close at 8:00, but that's no problem because you want to get there for the early bird special anyways. I looked over at another table and spied a very elderly man, with his oxygen tank, sitting alone eating his meal. Of course, my imagination went wild. I envisioned he had lost his beloved wife of 60 years and that his children just didn't care, and left him to rot all on his own. I almost went over and asked to join him. However, I'm glad I didn't. One other thing I learned during my time there--some older people can be really, really crotchety.
The truth is that there are all sorts in Sun City. In selling real estate, I did come across some sad stories and very lonely people. There were, definitely, situations where children had literally abandoned their elderly parents, and never showed up except when it was time to sell the house and collect the money. There were also situations where unscrupulous people would take advantage of some naive and unsuspecting widow or widower. That, unfortunately, is the way the world works. I spent a lot of time being angry at those situations. Angry, but helpless. But there were as many if not more great and heartwarming situations, such as witnessing those active retirees who flocked to Sun City to enjoy golfing and socializing; truly milking the most out of their retirement years and then, when the time came that they were not in a situation to keep up the household, their very devoted children would come and collect them and bring them home with them. It was always difficult for them to leave, but most realized that it was time and were fortunate to have a loving family to take care of them. And I witnessed many folks who are still as active as can be, and just decided...what the heck, let's get a different house in a different area of Sun City and spend some time fixing it up. And, in the meantime, they had joined every club possible and rarely spent time at home because they were always out socializing. Many Sun City residents have large families who love to come and visit on holidays, or during the winter when the snow in whatever state they live is piling up to the windowsill. And so, despite the absence of children as residents, there were, in fact, children and younger people about, only it was nicer for the residents. Because there were no schools, Sun City property taxes seemed to average from about $600-$900 per annum. Woof. Now tell me what you think about Sun City, huh? In addition to being extremely affordable, the community is amazingly pristine. Folks of that generation tend to have a lot of pride, and therefore, everything is kept up marvelously well.
It may seem that this blog subject has come out of nowhere. Why, all of a sudden, did I think to write about Sun City. Well, it was because I spent a half day today with doctors, lab assistants, and radiologists who are testing me for causes of a sudden onset of arthritis and searching for reasons behind the unremitting pain in my hips. I feel, at the relatively middle age of 48 as if my joints are giving out way too prematurely, and all of this just at the onset of summer and GOLF season. "Not fair" I cry. And so, when someone asked me "Judy, how are you?" I started droning on with tales of my physical health problems. And then I stopped and laughed and thought to myself: " I sound as if I live in Sun City!" Maybe it's time to move back?
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