Florida

On a recent trip to Florida I was taken back in time. And back to old friends. And memories. After dinner one night I took a stroll through the palm fronds of reminiscence, capturing the moment before it could dissipate into the atmosphere. What follows is that walk down memory lane. I had already forgotten I'd written it, but upon finding it, I'd like to share it.
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Almost 40 years ago, my husband dragged me from Ohio to my new life in Florida. (The ruts from where my heels dug into the ground can still be viewed in some places.) I didn't want to be here. At. All.

Tonight, we had dinner in Jesse's in Brandon. It is one of my favorite places and brings back memories of a life here. (If you're ever in the area, their crab legs are awesome, but their prime rib cannot be beat anywhere! Add a glass of wine. It's worth it. They're known for steaks and burgers but I've never bothered with that stuff. You can get those things anywhere!)

It has been a remarkable few days. As I drove down 92 in Mango, I remembered my first trip down that road. We had come from 301 to Macintosh to 92 and then took Parsons to our new home in Seffner. It was a little house on a sand lot, not at all like my lovely tri-level in Ohio with the big tree in the back yard, and the wonderful neighbors. I hated it at first sight.

It was a difficult adjustment, and it took time, but when we left here in 2007 we had accumulated a Santa Claus sized sack of wonderful memories.

It was here that my children grew up, and went scalloping in Anclote Bay in Tarpon Springs.
It was here that we watched the Shuttle take its first voyage into the great unknown. I mean, we watched it from our back yard 200 miles away. You could watch the shuttle from almost anywhere in the state. We never missed a blast off. We even got up for the 4am ones.
It was here that I heard the first twin sonic booms as the shuttle landed in Canaveral for the first time.
It was here that I saw the contrails from the Challenger lingering in the sky hours after it blew up.
It was here that I swam with manatees.... manatees that found me swimming in the intercoastal waterway! How cool is that!

It was here that we found our wonderful church; St. Andrews UMC that would become our home and would help us raise our children; where we would make wonderful friends that greeted us with waves and hugs when we walked into church last Sunday morning for the first time in years.

It was here where we built our beautiful home in Valrico, with the horse pasture behind us; where Janice learned to ride and we made life-long friends....that we almost never see but still love.

It was here where I worked as a media specialist in 4 different schools....and discovered later that I had left an indelible mark. Where I found out people had looked up to me, even though I never realized it....until much later.

It was here that the sky is bluer and the sun is sunnier and on beautiful days, the weather absolutely cannot be matched. And the sunsets are amazing. (I miss the sunsets and those blue skies.)

It hasn't all been peaches and cream. I have my share of bad memories of negative events. That's life, but that's not the part of life that will drive my story.  Florida is absolutely NOT the most beautiful place, or the nicest place, or the best place to live in the world. Florida is just Florida. Just like Pennsylvania is just Pennsylvania and Georgia is just Georgia.

Florida has its good and its bad points and the reasons why I never wanted to move here still exist (alligators, cockroaches, drugs). But every place has its bad points. And lets face it. Drugs are everywhere, so that reason doesn't even count.

The point is, I never wanted to live here, and I will be eternally grateful I did. Visiting here and seeing all of my old friends, visiting the old haunts, and eating at my favorite places has reminded me again of how much of who I am and what I've experienced is embedded in this state.

I may hate change, but every change I have experienced has brought wonderful blessings, even if there were negative experiences. My heels may have left ruts in the soil between Ohio and Florida but most of those ruts have filled in with wildflowers so its ok.

The biggest lesson I've learned in life is simple. When change comes, take a deep breath and exhale. Then embrace it. It all works out in the long run so make it work out for the best.