February 14th...No, not Valentine's day, Arizona's Birthday!

100 years ago on February 14th, Arizona became the 48th state of the union...I am a fourth generation Arizonan...my family was here when we were a territory, we fought in the only battle of the civil war at Picacho Peak...We were confederates...We won. We protected our border ensuring Tucson was, and is a part of our great state and not taken by Spaniards. My Grandmother attended Tempe Normal, ...now ASU...when it was a college for women educators. My father was born in a midwife facility in Tucson and was Scottsdale's first city attorney. We are a diverse, bright, complicated group of amazing citizens. We are quirky, brash and outspoken.  My great great grandfather brought his family across the country by horse drawn wagon and was a first family of Tempe...no, I am not a Mormon.  He then moved to Glendale where he was a farmer.  He took his crops to Tempe to sell and crossed the Salt River using Hayden's Ferry. Lattie Coor, Carl Hayden, and my great grandfather had their hair cut by the same barber every week.  Prescott, is pronounced Preskitt.  My grandmother and her sisters summered in Flagstaff .  It was too hot in the valley and they didn't have air conditioning.  Hanging wet sheets between trees and sleeping on mattresses outside was their  air conditioning. I grew up in Scottsdale before it was cool.  The big indoor mall was Los Arcos.  We were influenced by Wallace and Ladmo, a local "kids" TV show where adults were laughing harder than the kids.  The Phoenician was The Jokake Inn and I rode my horse on the golf course regularly.  Fashion Square's coolest department store wasn't Barney it was Goldwater's, yes, owned by Barry Goldwater's family.   I am an proud American and Arizonan. I know we have far to go and aren't perfect. I could live anywhere, but couldn't dream of living anywhere else. Happy Birthday Arizona!