Quietly observing America in a shopping center near Sun City AZ

My mother is going to be 90 in July.  Her mind is sound, but she is dependent on a walker to get around.  She still drives to the chagrin of my brother who lives at Desert Mountain about a half hour north of Sun City.

I was about to take her to my brother's house for dinner on Saturday, when she asked my wife to clip her nails.....I quickly jumped in and said we need to take you for a pedicure.(my wife has an aversion to fingernails and toenails so I had to act quickly)....she agreed and I drove her to the local shopping area.

First, the prices in the grocery store were obscene.   They rip off old people.  The gas station had 20 cents higher gas prices than stations 10 miles away.  As I waited 45 minutes for her to get her nails done......I saw the incredible aging of America and the desperate effort of folks trying to remain independent.

I saw a couple clinging on to each other, neither able to walk independently, yet they had perfected this odd dance hold as one locked their arm around the others back, while their other arm locked in front as they swayed back and forth slowly keeping their balance and sharing what was still good and working.  It was an incredible scene of love and ingenuity I have ever seen, as I estimated they were in their mid nineties.  I was certain that I was going to have to call an ambulance when they hit the ground, but they were incredible.  

My mother no longer uses her call button necklace because they call my brother and his wife.  She knows they both want her in a home, so she keeps her cell phone instead of the button, and calls 911 and tells them not to send an ambulance, not to send a fire truck, just help her get up and she will be fine......she is a tough old Alabama girl who never took chit from anybody, and it will take a tow truck to pull her from her home.  This attitude is pervasive among the community.  They talk about how lazy the 70 year olds are, and how vibrant and helpful the 90 year olds are, but one thing is certain.....Sun City is where old white people go to die.....insulated from America, and doing these strange dances of survival.   The human spirit is amazing.

Great story and, as usual, told very well . . . . . I have family who have a home in Phoenix and another in Pueblo, CO. Their daughter married a great guy who owns a chain of restaurants called Tokyo Joe's throughout CO and expanding. Your description and/or characterization of Sun City reminded me that our County Administrator who was fired by the BOCC in Pensacola for an unknown or unspoken reason was the CA in Sun City before coming to Pensacola. Having worked with him on several issues it was clear he was pretty much a no nonsense type of guy and a bean counter personified which is likely the real reason why he could not please five commissioners. His name was Randy something or another.

Sun City is really weird. I have never seen so many houses mile after mile, and at 9pm all the lights are off. It is spooky. I would walk the dog(she hated the entire trip because she runs free at home on the islands and had to walk on desert....no way Jose) and as I walked blocks and blocks of residences, it was like the fricking place was in a Charlton Heston mid seventies movie where all the people were gone....a ghost town. Nobody stays up late.

After my wife and mother went to bed, I go play poker at the Indian Casinos and as of lately have been getting my head handed to me, but on my return trip....I did not even see another car in Sun City.....it is a very strange feeling. My mother only watches Fox News and is scared to death that somebody wants to cut her head off.......she once was a Republican precinct committee person and was a very good commercial artist for Sears, but here she sits in Sun City frightened to death by Fox News that somebody is going to get her. It is infuriating what the scardy cats have done to the vulnerable in this country.