Editor:

Several years ago while on vacation, we discovered Fairhope and have been grateful ever since. While I married a girl from Mobile, it had been a long time since we visited the Gulf Coast, and once here, we never looked back.

We found not only friendly people but also a beautiful, clean environment, excellent schools, great shopping and a well-managed little city.

Like many good corporate soldier, we ha lived where the company sent us and tried to always make the most of our life wherever we were.

For 28 years, three Fortune 500 companies and varied interesting assignments, I created budgets, hired personnel and generated profit for my employers. But there are trade-offs everywhere.

In Miami, we discovered fun in the sun as well as the fat we were No 1 in illegal drug sales.

In New York, we enjoyed a wonderful theater and art scene but also found a city at that time struggling to survive and a mayor who was usually walking the streets asking, “How am I doing?”

In St. Lois, actually the suburb of Kirkwood, the sparkling Midwestern neighborhoods were a plus. But recently, Kirkwood was in the news for the mass murder of local leaders by a disgruntled citizen at a City Hall meeting.

Houston was fun! Lots of things to do and lots of miles to drive to get there. In Dallas, we had outstanding shopping, but harsh weather and $300-a-month water bills to keep the grass alive between rains.

Charleston introduced us to some of the finest historical architecture in America and Hurricane Hugo. Floodwater in our basement was 3 feet deep, and it took 13 days to regain electric power.

Atlanta had an excellent business climate and an hour commute each way to the office.

Just prior to moving to Fairhope, we lived in a small town in South Carolina. It has a reputation for a “sense of Community.” It also was poorly managed, had virtually no city services, few restaurants, terrible schools, high taxes and a mayor who last year was removed for ethics violations.

Life in Fairhope is great! We have an outstanding mayor in Tim Kant, hundreds of volunteers, city employees second to none and managers who manage effectively like Jennifer Fidler, Greg Mims, Sherry Sullivan, Dan McCrory, Lisa Hanks and Ken Eslava to name a few.

It’s spring. Let’s take a moment to reflect on how good we do have it.

We love living on the Eastern Shore, being part of the Fairhope community and having Mobile only a few minutes away.

Fairhope