7 YEARS!

Today marks my 7th Anniversary of having landed in Arizona.  Two years ago, I posted a blip with a photo  similar to this in celebration.  You can compare me in the two. (I just wish I had remembered I was wearing my 'fat' shorts today!) I have copied the write-up. I hope you enjoy it.  Check out the smile!


I've lived in my home in Green Valley, Arizona since St. Patrick's Day 2007. Today is my five seven year Arizona anniversary!

One-hundred Eighty percent more grey and eighty fifty-five pounds lighter!

My belongings were shipped cross-country and arrived in the morning before my flight touched down. Mom was in charge of seeing to the unloading of the truck.

Unfortunately, she tripped over a table and hurt her back. (Later we discovered she had fractured a bone and needed a fusion). She was in so much pain she couldn't continue to help.

My brother, John, lived in the Phoenix area, under normal circumstances about 2.5 hours away. When he got the call from mom he made it there in about half the time.

My brother was my knight in shining armor. He picked me up at the airport about five o'clock. When I walked into my house there wasn't a box to be seen. He had unloaded and un-boxed everything. Dishes, pots, and utensils were in the cupboards and drawers. Clothes were hanging in the closet. Furniture was arranged in the rooms. Bathrooms were set up with mats, towels and even soap.

I missed Maryland, where I lived for 23 years after growing up in Buffalo, NY, and my friends and support network for about the first six months I lived here and complained that there was no "green". But then I opened my eyes and saw the green. That changed everything.

I love Arizona (everything but the politics). I love Green Valley. I love the mountains and the valleys and the desert and the forests. I love the sun and the heat.

I am happy for the first time continue to be the happiest I have been in many, many years.

EDIT:  When I found blip on January 1, 2011 and people finally started commenting on my then grainy photos on which I was putting so much effort, it was like I was in Heaven; happier than a person could possibly be.  Thank you all for sticking with me through surgeries, emergencies and recoveries - manias and depressions - thick and thin.  The things friends do, if even from afar.