I went for an early walk last week around the subdivision I live in. As I walked around the lake with the morning sun on it I realized how beautiful everything looked. Which stunned me because I always complain about how ugly everything is here.
I call it ugly because there's not much to look at out here. There aren't any trees older than six years old, the year home builders planted them around thousands of fresh-built, cookie-cutter homes that comprise Maricopa. I grew up by the Snake River where trees grow by themselves in abundance. I miss forests. I miss mountains. I miss the color green.
It's easy to be negative about Maricopa. Home builders sold lots in a frenzy in the housing boom, and people came in droves, changing the city from a small town of 1,000 in the year 2000 to the current population of 40,000. People moved in because homes were cheaper here than closer to the Valley, but they found a town with little infrastructure to support the influx: not enough schools, no hospitals. No malls, movie theaters, water parks. No Target, heaven forbid.
Gradually, schools got better as more options flowed in. And we did get a Walmart. But then the housing market collapsed and the brand-new homes with the puny trees plummeted in value along with the morale of the community. Foreclosure signs dotted the streets as jobs were lost and transportation into the Valley from this bedroom community became too expensive.
That's where we are. We've seen good friends leave, our neighborhoods become increasingly vacant, and store fronts built but unwilling to open under the current conditions. It's been easy to complain. I've become really good at complaining about Maricopa.
When I saw the sunrise hitting the lake (that I've always wished was a community pool), I decided I would stop complaining and focus on the good things about Maricopa. What better place to do that than this here blog, which features good old Copa in it's title? I shall try to post frequently in May about Maricopa's qualities. This won't be so easy for me.
Our Relief Society lesson today was on choosing to be happy. Is it possible to be happy about living in Maricopa? I'll choose to try to be.
The trees are growing big fast. That's the first good thing! I'm off to a good start.
3 comments:
Aaahhh...good luck in your endeavor. I realized that every time someone calls to ask how I am, I just complain how tired I am. Now I'm trying to say: "I'm good, my baby is alive".
Can you ever go swimming in that Maricopa lake-ish thing? Night swimming in the desert is divine ya know?
No swimming. It's recycled irrigation water. But you can park your buttocks next to the No Fishing sign and spend a nice afternoon at the late. I see people do it all the time.
Before I read your post I was thinking how nice all of the pictures looked--how they make the landscaping look so nice down there.
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