A couple of years ago I traveled to Mesa Arizona to visit my grandparents who live there. While I was in Arizona I traveled around everywhere using my skateboard. After skating all throughout the town I made a startling discovery...... I was one of the youngest people around by far. When I returned home I asked my grandpa about Mesa, and he said " Its a beautiful place for snowbirds to travel south to". That was the first time I have ever heard of the expression known as snowbirds. From that point forward the only people who I saw or was around appeared to be at least 70 or over. I wasnt a hundred percent sure that all of these old people in one place was normal.
One morning my Grandma asked me to run to the supermarket for supplies that were needed for dinner that night. Without hesitation I agreed and headed out the door ( Grocery stores in America are really cool and very interesting). After looking at all of the heavily sugar injected American snack foods, I grabbed Dinner rolls and a couple chicken breasts. On the way out of the grocery store I ran into an old man who was visibly struggling with his groceries. I offered to help him carry them to his car and he became very excited and accepted my offer. After taking his belongings to his car he asked me if I was a local. I told him that sadly I was not and that my Grandparents lived here for almost all of the year. He said "ahhh, good Ole snowbirds". I was still curious as to what the word actually meant ( by now I had a vague idea). I asked him what being a snowbird actually means and he told me that "Its when frozen Canadians come to the southern states to avoid snow, much like Canadian geese. "
http://www.google.ca/imgres?hl=en&as_st=y&biw=1366&bih=674&tbs=sur:f&tbm=isch&tbnid=zdatEtQDOiGP5M:&imgrefurl=http://www.freefoto.com/preview/41-01-52/Elderly-People&docid=GF9JpKBMXPqsTM&imgurl=http://www.freefoto.com/images/41/01/41_01_52---Elderly-People_web.jpg&w=400&h=600&ei=HxGQUM7aFaHm2AXV-4CwBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=178&vpy=2&dur=213&hovh=275&hovw=183&tx=86&ty=76&sig=101584083364982096634&page=1&tbnh=157&tbnw=103&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,i:142
After I came home to flurries and negative 30 degree weather (without the windchill). I started to realize and understand why its so important for people to travel to the lower states during winter. This action shows how traveling around the world affects us even when we are past the prime of our youth and is something indoctrined in us forever. After that point I vowed that when I became elderly my goal was to never witness the coldness of winter again. ( Much like everyone who lives in Florida)
http://www.google.ca/imgres?num=10&hl=en&as_st=y&biw=1366&bih=674&tbs=sur:f&tbm=isch&tbnid=3ZlzAD60IlWzeM:&imgrefurl=http://dommy.com/alan/4c.html&docid=jXlf7W2sVfrrwM&imgurl=http://dommy.com/alan/pix/sonoran.jpg&w=424&h=282&ei=qA2QUNyQFsjO2gWu4ICgDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=189&vpy=128&dur=30&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=111&ty=81&sig=101584083364982096634&page=2&tbnh=140&tbnw=216&start=18&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,i:252
Thanks for reading!
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