A Hooker, A Stripper, and Some Flashers

Sun City Texas (SCT) is a "retirement community." This term probably conjures up images of doddering old fuddy-duddies being taken for walks by their caretakers. I can assure you, that is not the scene here, although I did have a rather surreal experience one day. Visiting the Community Center, I passed a sitting area where a giant TV was quietly broadcasting the news, the library where shelves of books awaited on an honor check-out system, a bulletin board advertising myriad available activities, the billiard room with tables silently waiting to be racked, and waiting in the hallway, a little red wagon full of boccie balls. Sometimes it does feel like a giant day-care center.

Residents take advantage of every opportunity for education, excitement, and adventure. Many people come to SCT only in the winter when their beloved northern homes are inundated with snow and the streets are slick with ice. Some leave only in the summer when our weather hovers in the triple digits. They refuse to be impressed with the old adage "it is a dry heat."
Others of us just muddle through it all, laughing at ourselves and the world around us.

My neighbor, T, is one such fun-loving soul.
"I am a hooker!" she announced proudly one day.
"Sometimes I even strip!" she added with a laugh and sidelong glance at me.
I try not to be shocked at anything she says or does. She is always full of one surprise or another. I relish her stories of fleeing Germany when she was a young child. Sure enough, my patience is rewarded when she explains that she hooks rugs and sometimes cuts her own strips of wool using a special "stripping machine."
"It is much more fun to try and shock people," she admits.

M is one of our four morning walkers. She has just moved here from the big, bad city of Las Vegas, Nevada, and feels a little uncomfortable when we walk before daylight. Yes, there is some traffic here, but SCT is in a small town and, really, a small town unto itself. We don't worry but M does. Thus she bought small flashers for each one of us. They are battery operated, approximately 2" round, and clip onto our clothing. There are 3 red ones and 1 green one. Every morning the four of us walk down the street, out-of-sync flashers announcing our presence to the world of morning traffic. Christmas will be here soon and we will fit right in.

A hooker, a stripper, and some flashers - there is never a dull moment in SCT. Just ask the resident who passes us every morning...jogging....uphill.....wearing a backpack containing tennis rackets......

Morning Has Broken.....

Four of us went walking this morning. It is an unwritten rule that we walk as long as at least two of us show up, taking about 45 minutes to cover 2 1/2 miles. During that time, we solve world problems, catch up on families, exchange ideas and hints, give verbal book reviews, and just mutually support each other.

At the end of our walk, after everyone had scattered to their own homes, my neighbor and I were the last to arrive at our destinations. We were greeted by a neighborhood couple who was just getting everything packed into the car for a journey. Our new group of four, chatted about the weather, the roads to be travelled, offered any assistance with plants, mail, etc., and exchanged pertinent information about our activities.

The world is so alive early in the morning. The stars seem within reach in the dark morning sky, the planet Venus outshining them all. We have few street lights, a conscious decision made by our City Council to keep visual pollution to a minimum. City sounds are absorbed by the abundance of greenbelts, leaving only the call of birds awakening to the morning and the occasional chattering of a squirrel. The four of us depart for our various activities just as the glorious colors of sunrise appear on the Eastern horizon. It is just after 7 a.m. and the day lies ahead of us. Such is life in Sun City Texas.