Today we are off. I took one last look at our empty apartment on my way out the door; enjoying the thought that another chapter is over and a new one is beginning. We’ve enjoyed the casual comradery of our neighbors over the last year. There was always time to mix chit chat in with walking a dog or going out to the car. I’ll remember the yummy smell of my Saudi neighbor’s Double Apple hookah smoke, and how the hookah brought our vertical neighborhood together. I have complained about living in Phoenix … and complained … then I’d complain some more, but there was good mixed in with bad. He is my list of the things I will miss and the things I am glad to leave behind.
Things I Liked About Living in Phoenix
Seeing the sun every single day
Celebrating the New Year in mild weather (Tempe throws a great party!)
Strolling the edge of Tempe Town Lake
Flowering Saguaros
The Tempe Art Festival
The Cactus League
Laughing my butt off at Brice and Lisa’s
Things I am Glad to Leave Behind
Drivers with a blatant disregard for human life
Guns allowed in bars
Conservatives, but only the mean ones
Brown, everything is brown
Fake adobe
The air conditioning bill
Having to drive to the library to recycle
Burning myself on my seatbelt buckle