This is my third trip to Phoenix but my first time to actually enter the lair of ancient Phoenicians--the RV park. Actually it is more of a gated community filled with mostly "park models", 10 x 30' mobile homes, and sprinkled with the giant RVs typical of retirees with limited driving ability. It is also like a day care because there are lots of toys: swimming pools, playgrounds with shuffleboard and tennis courts, even a giant sandbox where the boys can build villages for model trains. And for the girls there is a beauty salon and spa. There is also "preschool" available in the community center where savvy seniors can study everything from quilting to jewelry making to woodworking.
The community center is also used for a church on Sundays, card parties and various performances throughout the week. I figure the reason for all the entertainment is so people won't notice they are living in tiny cages, like birds. In order to access all these fine facilities, the wrinkled residents ride golf carts or bicycles. What I did not find in the canned community was anywhere to get away from the gray headed league. A place to have a league of my own, unspotted by the age spots of others. It is one of my retirement goals to become a snowbird but I don't want to live in a coop, paying high fees to live stacked together like bacon in a pan.
I want to spend part of the winter where my "pearly whites" (in western Montana winters that means legs, not teeth) can be exposed to the kiss of the sun without becoming red like a giant hickey. I want to see green plants and tanned bodies, not concrete walls and canned hobbies. I want to use what is left of the talents and time God gave me to work for Him; in the service of God, there is no retirement plan. Excess recess reduces fruitfulness. Frankly, it doesn't seem like a good idea to stop investing in heaven right before you cash in. Otherwise, you might have no more impact on the world we live in than the ancient Phoenicians.
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