Living in Florida is interesting. I really think you either love it or you hate it. There aren't too many people who are in between. I happen to really love it. Even though, right now, real estate sucks and the wages are too low, taxes and insurance are too high, and there are more and more "northerners" everyday it's still a great place to live. We've given thought to leaving Florida in search of cheaper insurance, no hurricanes, cheaper housing but we can never think of a place we'd rather live (ok, maybe Hawaii but nowhere else realistically).
The weather here has been brutal this week. It's so hot that you can actually see the heat. It's really humid so it looks hazy and, I guess, heavy is the best way to describe it. It's been in the mid to high 90's but with the humidity it feels like 104-108. You can't be outside for too long before you're sweating and uncomfortable. I got an email from Aunt Patty the other day talking about Florida and it was pretty much right on with the heat part. It said you go outside and start to sweat and it's only 7:30am. We do what we can to stay cool though. Lots of A/C, lots of water, and as little clothes as we can possibly get by with. I was laughing yesterday because I've started getting my September magazines and the models are wearing wool and tights and hats and boots! We don't even pull that stuff out until December or January! I've got months of shorts and tank tops and flip flops left!
One really great thing about the heat is cooling off in the pool. We've been coming home after work and jumping in the pool. We'll swim until we get hungry then towel off for dinner. The dogs love it because they jump and swim and chase their tennis ball. It's a really nice way to relax after a long, stressful day.
Another great thing about living here is the proximity to everything cool. We're less than an hour from some of the greatest attractions in the world! We've got all the Disney parks and attractions, Universal Studios and fine dining, upscale shopping, the Daytona Speedway and the beaches, a huge cruise terminal, and the mack daddy of them all, the Kennedy Space Center. Not that we visit these attractions as often as we should but having access to them is pretty amazing. People plan their yearly vacations around the place that I live. We have to count ourselves lucky for that. Also, how many people get to drive to work and watch the sunrise over the river and see dolphins and manatees swimming around? Not too many.
Tonight was one of those amazing Florida evenings. I got home from work and Joe was already manning the grill, cooking up some hot dogs for dinner. We changed into our bathing suits and jumped in the pool. We swam around with the dogs and watched them chase their ball while we talked about our crazy days. We capped off the evening in the deep end of the pool by watching the shuttle Endeavour take off into space. You don't get much more Florida than that. I bitch about the heat and the tourists and my insurance but a night like tonight reminds me how lucky I am to be able to experience things that most people will never get to. And that's pretty darn great!
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5 comments:
Funny perspective ! Those are all the reasons I left Florida for the mountains . . . . .
Everybody has their reasons for loving the place they live. I wouldn't want to be up in the mountains and have to deal with the cold weather. I guess it's just personal preference.
I miss everything but the heat. It does get pretty hot up here in the summer believe it or not! I must say I am king shit around here coming from Florida. I am the unofficial "Florida travel agent" at the hospital. I have given many people advice on where to go and what to do; I've had nurses bring in road maps to highlight the roads to take and where to stay. It's pretty cool coming from where we came from, (stressing that we never came out of a trailer) knowing that people spend thousands to do what we do (or did) everyday. Pretty impressive!!
There's nothing like a cool mountain breeze on a hot summer day, so I gotta go with Aunt Patti on this one. Although, Uncle Richard & I haven't ruled out Florida for our retirement destination, many a day we think about moving further up north in NY to be near our favorite lakes --- which, by the way, happen to be gator-free! Oh, but time will tell as each winter passes and seems to drag on-and-on which always leads us to the argument of --- 9 months of non-stop home heating bills or 9 months of home-cooling bills! Either way, there will be periods of time where you become homebound for weather related reasons. Decisions, decisions, decisions ...
Like I said before, it's all personal preference. Some like it cold, I definitely prefer the heat. At least when it's hot you can strip down to your bathing suit and jump in the pool. When it's cold you have to bundle up to your eyeballs, and get trapped in the house sitting under a blanket in front of the heater. BORING!!
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