By Eileen G., August 22, 2017 — I was a widow in my 60s living in Cochise County, Arizona. How I got there goes all the way back to when I was thirteen years old I met a boy, through his friend, who was sixteen. We dated for three months even though I was younger. He had previously been dating a girl named Reha and quit dating her to date me. When he quit dating me he went back to dating Reha. One day when I was eighteen years [old], I went ice skating and was introduced to Reha and we met for the first time and began double dating. Reha was three years older than me. I don’t remember how we got connected again, but when we were in our 60s we planned a road trip to Pearce, AZ to visit the place where Reha’s parents were buried. Reha knew the village well from visiting her parents with her daughter. We planned our trip and flew into Washington State and then took a train to Tucson, AZ. In Tucson, Reha rented a car for the remainder of our visit.
We spent a night with my sister and her husband in Kingman, AZ before we moved into a motel room in Sunsites for two weeks. While we were there, Reha has something planned for us each day, except for one day. On that one specific day we drove around the village and saw many people driving on the streets in golf carts to and from Shadow Mountain Golf Course. Anyway, I saw a house for sale and it looked like a house I could afford and it had a local phone so we called and set up an appointment to see the house. I stepped through the front door and fell in love. I said, “Oh, this feels like home to me.” They wanted $55,000 and it was vacant for three years, but the owner would not come down on the price. I bought the house in March and moved in July. I loved living in that house. I felt like I was on vacation with the two sets of sliding glass doors.
I became acquainted with my neighbors on my right side who were from Peru. Pedro and Maria had a very close family [with] three daughters and three son-in-laws. One daughter and her family lived with them and the others lived close by. I tutored their granddaughter, Kathy. Her teacher failed to realize that she looked at the middle of the word. Therefore, she was not reading as well as she should. I tutored her for four years and we built a very special [bond].
I loved Arizona. Twice for 6 months Sam and his wife lived with me, but Sam couldn’t find work. Once while Sam was living with me, George and Monty my two cats, wanted to be left out because the heard the noise from the neighbors two doors down that were having a party and they wanted to investigate. So we let them out and left the sliding glass door part way open for them to get back into the house. It got chilly and we closed the door. Next thing we knew we heard a ruckus and George leaped over Monty and smacked into the sliding door. Poor Monty was in a daze and he slammed into the patio door. Sam went over to open the door and there was a chubby chihuahua there barking at the two cats. Sam went and opened the sliding glass door to the car port. George ran in and jumped on the table and Monty tried to jump up on the table but landed under the table. That Dog stayed at the living room sliding door for about five minutes challenging the cats to come out and fight like a dog.
I lived there for 7 years and move back to Pennsylvania to be near my two sons who did not want me to live alone. I went back to visit and Pedro answered the door and hugged me. Maria had heart trouble. I don’t want to know if she isn’t here anymore.