Metro Creative Connection
By Ray Hightower | Columbia, Missouri
I first traveled to Phoenix in November of 2018. That’s when I fell in love with the Valley. I didn’t make it back until November of 2024 and nearly cried when I had to leave. I could tell my roots were shifting.
I was there again this July. I wanted to experience the heat. Coming from the Deep South — where 98 degrees feels like you’re boiling in a cast-iron pot of bigotry, repression and the bitter memories of a war that people just can’t seem to let end — 116 dry degrees on the streets of my favorite city in the world was the most amazing and exhilarating thing I’d ever felt.
Phoenix has become home. I don’t have to force it, explain it or overthink it — it just is. Every minute that I’m back in Mississippi, I am homesick for the Valley. The people, the culture, the vibrancy, the food (my God, the food!).
This trip I was a local. I went to the Downtown Farmers Market and talked to nearly all the vendors. I walked the streets in the City Scape area, always staying on the sunny side. I sat at the friendship garden and listened to the birds. I made friends at local restaurants.
It was freedom for me. Now I’m saving money, not for another trip, but for a move. I’m ready to come home.
I am an optician, a customer service professional, a writer, a perpetual optimist and a baker with a small home-based business. I can’t wait to see what life brings in Phoenix, and what I can do there to give back.
To the people of Phoenix and Arizona: thank you. You gave me back the spark that I was almost ready to let go out.
Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@inusua.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.