Arizona has given more to me than just a place to live

A version of this column ran Feb. 5, 2012. This is the second of two parts.

I live under a perpetually blue sky, with geckos doing push-ups on the walls of my house and the smell of Hatch chiles roasting in the parking lot of Food City.

Although the desert summer is still an annual endurance test, I feel more than compensated when our mild winters allow outside barbecues on Christmas Day, sipping mimosas poolside and watching paper-thin petals from the fuchsia bougainvillea float nearby.

I watch spring-training games from the grass in the outfield. Summer nights find me floating in our pool, gazing at the stars. Fall sends me to Christopher Creek to see the changing leaves. And winter? The only times I’ve stuffed my kid into a snowsuit were by choice, when we drove north to sled in Flagstaff.

This is where I have fallen in love, first with a guy who took me for rides on his old Vespa along Galvin Parkway and whispered in my ear in Italian, and most recently with a baby born to me at Tempe St. Luke’s Hospital on a clear April night a dozen years ago.

There have been days that I’ve asked, “Why in the world do I live here?” with so many of our schools failing, our inability to care for those in need, recent legislation painting us all as intolerant, and a finger-wagging governor.

Then I witness wonderful moments of generosity and good.

Some are small, like when a boy at my son’s school forgot his black socks for a piano recital and a friend let him wear one of his, so they each had a black sock on the foot facing the audience.

Others are extraordinary, like the outpouring of support for the victims of the shootings in Tucson last year.

Small or large, these acts of kindness make me realize that the worst thing that I could do is leave this place behind. They may not be unique to Arizona, but it is in Arizona where I witness them.

I could have moved, for love, or a job, or an adventure. But I know this place. And it feels warm — OK, hot, in the summer — and safe, and good.