Life in Florida is a constant learning experience for a
Northern girl. When I moved here, all I
saw was beaches in my future, margaritas, Jimmy Buffet songs in my head and
ports with cruise ships with red carpets waiting to sail me away to islands I
had dreamed of visiting. Okay, some of
it is true, some of the time, and oh, I am not blonde, young or a dreamer just optimistically delusional!
Why wasn’t I told that the afternoon rains you experience
vacationing here are nothing compared to the rainfalls living as a resident year round? Why did some friends who
have lived in Florida a lot longer than us, Lynn and Bill, suggest we go kayaking with them? Yep, their idea was to take
boats up to some river they frequent. I wanted to say “Hell why take them up to some damn
river. We could rent them and just take them down the street. We'll just set ours in the middle of the road and mill around
the neighborhood on a kayak and wave hello to the neighbors?”
Are there beaches in Florida? The last time I went was in
March when some friends from up north came down for vacation, their annual
vacation! Luckily I had pre-booked a condo where they stayed so I got two days right
down by the water too. It is June and haven't been since. The weather hasn't been ideal or I have been busy or any number of reasons but no beachy
time. That's supposedly why I am down here! Rip-off, I want a refund! I wish Cathy and Pam would come back so I could get some more beach time. I am about
ready to pay their way!
You know it is damn humid when you take your energetic puppy
outside and the only place she will lay is directly under your SUV. I'm not
talking just under the bumper but dead under the center of the car, where you can not possibly reach her. This is the spot where you spent 5 minutes begging her to come out from under the vehicle so you can pull the car out and go get some ice cream. How can anyone live in this heat without eating it regularly? I don't intend to find out. Poor little puppy is so afraid of coming out because she doesn't want to risk her paws hitting the ground outside. Those pads will fry quicker than an egg, sizzling like a piece of bacon. In fact, anyone leashing a dog outside in Florida should be shot.
I thought I was over hot flashes. Then I moved to Florida and found no one lives here without hot
flashes, even the men. This is most definitely true in the summer. By the way, snowbirds, if you have heard the term, are people that live in Florida half of the year. In summer months, they get the hell out of dodge, dodge being their home and hell being Florida! (Funny huh because Northeners like me flocked down here to get all sweaty on the beach and complain of heat exhaustion in the evening! LOL!)
So get ready for sweating like never before living here. Hot flashes magnified. I can't help and laugh at those with long hair keeping it down. I know what their neckline looks like underneath, blah! Either decide to like the not wearing make-up look or prefer the look of rivets of color rolling
down your cheeks, chin and neck. Not pretty ladies, the latter, a much better look is
make-up less, as so many find out in time. I call it the Naked Face. It sounds
more risque than the au natural and live on the wild side, life is too short.
The ports of calls are nearby for the cruise lines and we
have been on a few but the costs are an inhibiting factor. It is easy, from afar,
to think it is a tremendous opportunity. Reality is cruises cost money. There are fruit trees down here but no money trees. I find we don't go on any more than we did when we lived up north except it doesn't entail an overnight stay. Maybe one year I will get brave and be a stowaway or audition for entertainment. Yeah, that'd be good. Now I just have to develop a talent besides banging pans together.
Floridians like to have fun, they love parties, drinking and
excuses to get-together just to be together. Northerners crave alone time. It is a totally different mindset and hard to
get use to when you move here. Once you
understand the logic behind it, the meaning that they feel the joy of life is
being together, laughter and experiencing moments in time before we go, it is hard not to have it rub off on you. Mind you, I still need my down time. I can't do the together-time as much as the true Floridians or the people that have lived here for years but I am working on it.
Florida is truly a blending of the old with the new. With so
many retirees living here and many young people loving to live in the South, it
is a culture with change and loaded with tradition much of that from its older
population. You have your story
tellers with a deep rich past and young families and youth still forming their stories. What a beautiful
thing to be anywhere down here and see the influx and recognize, yes,
differences do not mean that folks cannot get along. At the end of the day, no matter the religion,
age, color or political preferences, when the goal is the same, to get along, grow and
enjoy the life you are living we can coexist well together in America. It is really not rocket science.
It has been fascinating to discover the different characteristics of the beaches here. Each one seems to be unique and yet have some similarities, which is pretty obvious especially on the Gulf Coast verses the Atlantic side. Everyone has their favorite beaches, their favorite amusement parks and hang outs. It is very much like people, we have our differences,some seem glaring and yet, are they really all that different in the end? Can't we just enjoy them as we do the beaches and find humor in us all? Floridians are alot like that, they find delight in all the beaches and in all types of folks, no matter how different they are from themselves.
Florida is not exactly what I envisioned. But it is special, different than other places in the south I have lived. It has a richness
of culture, a playground by the ocean, yes but also a heart that is due to all the
Floridians that live here. And I now am a contributing member and damn proud
of it! When you come down here, be sure to not only soak up the sun but check out how happy the folks are that live here. Take that attitude they have, we have 😀 and take it back with you where you came from. Just maybe we can start a wave of enjoying life abit more in our country. If life's not fun, why live it?
