HOA Clubs

A few days ago my wife showed me a post from a friend who was enjoying life and all club activities our AZ HOA has to offer. She also showed me some of the negative comments on the post which were disgusting at best. They were critical or making fun of a person who was trying to live with happiness and positivity. My wife is a kind person and other than being married to me, a happy person, but the comments made her a combination of sad and angry. I don’t know why a person feels the need to criticize or demean a positive post. If I had to guess, it may because their underwear is two sizes to small and the extra pressure makes them grumpy. The K&Ks of the world have nothing to offer and it good strategy to pay them no mind. .

When I first bought a place in my AZ HOA, I did not think much about clubs. But I have come to realize they are a very important part of HOA living. A primary reason current or future retirees come to AZ is the weather. A second reason is to do stuff. And in my AZ HOA, clubs provide lots of different options to do stuff

I do not know how many residents belong to at least one club, but I would guess its a large majority of the total residents. Most residents do not want to sit around and look at each other. I know my wife does not want to look at me. I get it, I have looked in the mirror. Its a good choice on her part.

So residents are out doing stuff and the broad array of clubs give them lots of options. I used to be surprised when a resident would tell me how many club activities they had planned for a day. Not any more.

One of my best friends was very active in several clubs. He could have easily written a positive post like my wife’s friend did. And he also would have likely received negative derogatory comments like she did. What the negative K&Ks would have not known is he had a high stress career in which he worked very hard with lots of travel. So when he retired, he was able to do stuff he never had the time for in the past. In a real way, he was living his best life. He also had a debilitating disease to which he succumbed last year. Way to early. But because of our AZ HOA, he had chance to do participate in activities and be surrounded by other club members who shared his interest or passion. That’s pretty cool and a blessing.

His wife, also a good friend, has a void in her life that will never be filled. But she is very busy and active with several different clubs and that is also a blessing.

I joined my first club a little over two years ago. After we bought our first place in our HOA in 2011, when other residents found out how much biking I had done over the years, about 40,000 miles and over twenty states plus Canada and Mexico, they would suggest I join the bike club. I would politely decline. Like my friend I worked a lot and did a fair amount of travel, because of this biking became my solo refuge and spiritual time. Its a hard habit to break.

I thought about joining a dance club but alas, as I have told many times, I have no rhythm. I am a great singerer in the shower, but not so much anywhere else so that’s out of the question. In junior high school I got a D in shop that was only because my mom was a teacher so wood working or pretty much any art or craft is out of my reach. But even though I do not do any of these activities I am happy we have a broad range of activities for our owners to enjoy. And selfishly, the more activities we have, the more residents participate and enjoy them, the more attractive mine and everyone’s residence is to new buyers looking for an active living retirement community with lot of options.

A little over two years ago I did join my first club, the pickle ball club. Theres a little history. The previous year I went out of remission of my long-term kidney decease. I gained over 35 pounds in less than three months, was tired all the time, and was pretty sure this was game, set, match. But the new meds eventually worked and a friend taught me how to play pickle ball. So I joined the PB Club.

l now play 4-5 times a week when I am in AZ, or other places where I also spend a lot of time. My wife says I have become obsessive about PB, but that’s just silly, anyone who knows me knows I do not have an obsessive personality. But I enjoy PB and am thankful for the Club that enabled me to learn and play the sport.

Clubs are not perfect. On the plus side there are place for like minded to purse interests and/or passions. On the negative side, clubs have people and some people can be grumpy and/or disrespectful of others. A friend of mine who is active in one club told me one of their members was consistently unpleasant, so they give the person the option of becoming more pleasant or find someplace else to be grumpy.

Clubs can have issues and it is normal for Club members to disagree on a Club issue. That is certainly true for the PB Club. The bottom line is thoughtful intelligent people can disagree without being disagreeable. So if two people cannot do that, at least one is neither thoughtful or intelligent.

HOA Clubs not only bring joy to many of our residents but also market value to all the homes in our community. Many Club members volunteer a significant time to their clubs and they should be appreciated. Clubs give our residents an opportunity to look forward to a club activity. Sometimes that activity is today, sometimes tomorrow or maybe next week, but something to which to look forward. And that’s important.

Finally, I am happy my wife’s friend is enjoying life. She is my friend also and has had more than her fair share of life challenges so again, I happy for her and everyone like her. And for the K&Ks, next time you see a post about someone enjoying life, be happy for them, that’s what nice people do.