When I moved to Arizona nearly five years ago, it wasn’t all that much different from my home on California’s central coast. The climate is definitely drier, but very similar. It’s a western state so there was no culture shock there. And there was plenty ‘o’ Mexican food to be had just like my home in sunny C.A.
But there were some things that took some gettin’ used to.
Take, for instance, the rear auto window dedication. You know what I’m talking about? Apparently Arizonans are big fans of this practice, though I can’t make any sense of it myself. I’ll be driving down the road and there, on the car in front of me, I see:
In Loving Memory of Mama.
6-12-54 to 9-1-2005
She’s Been Given Her Wings
What?!
Seriously? Who does that? What’s wrong with a headstone? Or do you really think that honor and respect is brought to Mama via the dusty back window of your 2002 Buick?
Moving right along though.
I also am amazed at the vendors who set up shop right there on the roadside. I’ve seen everything from rugs, to metal yard art, to locally harvested honey to slot machines. Yes. Slot machines. Because if that’s not a spur of the moment purchase I don’t know what is.
Not all of the strange sights are bad necessarily.
Just this weekend we were stopped at a red light and noticed some nice folks in neon vests camped out in the median. They had positioned themselves at a few of the major intersections in town and were offering cold bottled water to motorists.
How cool is that? I was telling Torri that visitors to this fine city of ours would be so impressed with our hospitality. Don’t ya think?
Unfortunately though we also seem to have our fair share of homeless people. They, too, camp out at major intersections and don the neon vests. Instead of giving out bottled water, they sell newspapers. Where they get the newspapers from is beyond me but at least they’re trying right?
Last week I saw one homeless lady trying extra hard.
She wasn’t selling newspapers; she had a different approach.
An approach that involved a pillow shoved up her dress in a misguided effort to appear pregnant. She even delivered her best rendition of a pregnant waddle. If the corners of that pillow hadn’t been so obvious she may have convinced a passerby (traveling at a very high speed and in need of vision correction) or two.
Lots to see here in the desert southwest.
I’d be happy to play tour guide should you ever venture my way. :)
