Cool is such a relative term. For some it might hearken back to the old Studio 54 days where it was the epitome of coolness. For others it's the 69 degrees they keep the fitness centers set at. Me? I'm somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. To be honest, cool has evolved as i have aged. When we first moved to Sun City, the things i found totally off the charts cool were any number of the items i could do to fill me days. It was a smorgasbord of stuff, all of which had me bounding out of bed, not wanting to miss anything. Retiring at 55 was both a blessing and a curse. I quickly came to understand work was way overrated. But, i found it necessary to stay busy and on the move. The good news about Sun City is there's an ample array of options and for anyone who can't or doesn't want to sit still, there's no reason to do so. With that caveat out of the way, i'm older, wiser and and way slower. I'm in no hurry to see my life pass before me in one continuous blur. Don't get me wrong, my fitbit goal is 150,000 plus steps per week, but it is all done at a comfortable 70 year old pace. No more frantic hurry up and stay busy endgame. My transition came early on, though it took me a while to adapt, to adjust. To be precise, maybe as much as 5 or 6 years. Seriously, i suspect i'm just a slow learner on some things. When i left SCHOA at the end of 2008 we got involved with Sun Cities 50th anniversary (2010). That year was a blur as it was a horrible time to try and do anything, companies were struggling and we did everything patchwork. In 2009, i went on the board of the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum (then the Sun Cities Area Historical Society). The second year there i was elected president; i was in historical heaven. We were closed summers and nearly every day i road my no-speed bike to the museum and read. It was eye-opening. Sadly, i learned little about slowing down and smelling the cactus. Everything was life and death, and when i left there and went to the RCSC, it only got worse. My desire to save the world (or at least Sun City), only intensified. Absolutely a fools game, because boards function in a vacuum and changes are nearly impossible. People; management, the board and the residents all are status quo driven. After my three years on the RCSC board i went back to the museum with more grandiose plans. Once again i found myself bucking head with folks who liked stuff the way it was. That made it simple for me, i walked away from the thing i found the most joy in. I always said the beauty of being a volunteer is you can quit if you aren't happy. For the next 4 years i stepped away. Going to meetings, writing when feeling the urge and speaking out occasionally was the extent of my participation. I turned more inward and less frantic about either my pace of life or the outcomes of what i was doing. I guess i finally came to understand slowing down and accepting was the easiest of all scenarios. Through all of these ramblings, the point here is simple: The coolest place in Sun City is the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum. Anyone who has visited it always leaves entertained and enlightened. The tragedy is what they have seen is only a small fraction of what is buried in the cabinets, closets and drawers. The magnificence of their collection is hidden away, not because they are trying to keep it secret, but because they have no room to display it. Someday soon, hopefully that will all change. But for now, make sure to visit it and appreciate what is there for your viewing pleasure. I find it almost too hard to fathom, but the vast majority of folks living here have never stepped through the doors. Guess they are just too busy trying to stay busy eh?
Bill, you said: "my fitbit goal is 150,000 plus steps per week". Impressive!!! All that can be said is WOW I need to catch up with that!!!!
I make it most weeks Ida. When we get those heavy rains i'll lose a day or two where i drop down to 15,000 steps that day and it impacts the weeks total I guess 140,000 steps for the week is okay. Just a state of mind. Funny, when i bump up to the 170,000 my body tends to scream louder at me. I suspect for those who have never ventured to the museum, the question looms, why not? I know, the hours suck, but really you've got to make a point to get there one of these days. My guess is less than 10% of those living here have visited it. Hope i'm wrong, but in the end, those who are clueless about it are the lessor for it. Here's why: Understanding Sun City is best grasped by understanding how and why we were able to overcome all of the challenges those early years brought us. My favorite marketing guys are Al Reis and Jack Trout. They were branding and positioning genius and promoted the concept of first in. Think in these terms; Sun City was the first community of its kind. DEVCO took a concept that didn't exist and made it work. DEVCO invented "an active way of life" for retirees. DEVCO created a migration away from family and friends to find a place in the sun. To this day, we are still the community others look to. The story is so compelling people from around the world study us on a regular basis. In our heyday, DEVCO was building 8 homes per day. And here's where it gets really exciting: The only place that information exists is at the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum. While the exhibits are wonderful, there's so much more to share with residents, visitors, marketers, community developers, students studying architecture and a host of others. To add to the mystique, there's the whole Del Webb story that is remarkable in itself. We are the only ones able to carry his legacy forward, and hopefully as we evolve, we can find stimulating ways to share his brilliance. The museum truly is that diamond in the rough and it's laying there just waiting to be found. Damn, i get goosebumps just thinking about the potential of the collections buried away and the crazy cool stuff we could do with it.
