Rob AndersonLead Coach/ Principle Owner, Stand Sure Coaching · Spending time in collaborative conversations with clients

Tempe, Arizona: A Childhood Lost to Growth #shorts

23 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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1:09

In this brief, first‑person monologue, the speaker reminisces about growing up in Tempe, Arizona during the 1970s. He describes a small‑town atmosphere marked by home‑built BMX tracks on empty lots, abundant orange groves, and tight‑knit neighborhoods where kids could ride bikes until streetlights came on. Over the years, those open spaces were replaced by expanding residential developments, and the once‑distinct cities of Tempe, Phoenix, and Mesa merged into a larger metropolitan area. The speaker expresses gratitude for having experienced that slower‑paced, community‑focused era, noting that while the physical landscape has changed, the memories of his childhood remain vivid.

Chapters

Hey, nothing like dropping the phone as you get ready to try to record, right? Hey, I was just thinking about something today, and that's, you know, I grew up in Tempe, Arizona back in the '70s, and man, it was just a different place. It still had that small-town feel, but you could sense that something big was coming. We saw empty lots where our home-built BMX tracks all suddenly turned into neighborhoods. All the orange groves, they slowly disappeared. And every year, man, the city got bigger and bigger. And pretty soon Tempe, Phoenix, and Mesa, they were all— they were just like all one city. And I don't know, I'm, I'm really grateful that I got to experience the version of Tempe where kids on bikes stayed out until the streetlights came on. The desert was our playground. Neighbors knew each other, and life just seemed a little bit slower. You know, some places change, but the memories of growing up, especially in Tempe, they never do.