Snowbirds in Year 4

Everyone I've met has a story about how they came to spend their winters at the Voyager RV Resort in Tucson. Here's how it goes, usually. 

• They stop in for a couple of nights on their way to or from someplace else. The next year they stay two weeks, then a month, then two months, then a season.
• They know someone who lives here in the winter and come for a visit. The next year they stay two weeks, then a month....

They may begin as RVers but eventually want a little more space. Or they begin as renters but eventually want a place of their own.

They drive to the Voyager for a few years, then decide to leave a car here and fly down.

We visited friends for an afternoon, then rented for two months, then three months, then bought the park model we'd been renting. And this year, my son drove our Prius down in November and we flew down in December. Next month I will register the car in Arizona.

I used to think of snowbirds as old people who came south and spent their days reading by the pool, maybe playing bridge or bingo in the evenings. You know, the women with their coiffed hair and the men with their comb-overs. Now I know different.

Where we live, people in their 50s to their 90s live lives as full as they want. Some people hike and bike and ride motorcycles. Some go to live shows or dances every week. Some do crafty things like leatherworking or lapidary or silversmithing or woodworking or quilting. Some do music or theatre. Some thrive in discussion groups or Bible studies or memoir-writing groups or Spanish classes. Really. Whatever they want.

This year my husband Art has a lead in the Voyager Light Opera Company's production of Oklahoma! He also co-coordinates box office sales with me. I facilitate a foreign affairs discussion group and enjoy an almost-rowdy current events group. I do water aerobics three times a week. We go into town once a week for a massage.

I walk to the activities center and say hello to people I know and people I don't. We wave. We comment on the weather. Everyone does what gives them pleasure.

We are busier here than we are at home. We entertain here but rarely at home. People stop by without calling beforehand and it feels fine. We live contentedly in 620 square feet.

Front room

Arizona room

Bedroom

Bathroom

I flew home to Seattle last week for a meeting. It rained almost the whole time. The sky was dark. People drove during the day with their lights on. When I arrived back in Tucson, it was sunny. The sky was blue. I loved it.