Random Florida Musings

“The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.’ -Maya Angelou

Tonight, I am leaving on a jet plane after an extended family vacation in southwest Florida. I’m taking a minute to reflect on our trip and prepare for my return to the “real world.” I had a lot of puzzling, laughable, thought provoking moments on this trek so I decided to make a list of some insights I picked up on this journey, in addition to just a few things I’m thankful for.

1) Someone told me I shouldn’t go to Florida this early in the winter because I’d still have so many cold months to contend with after my vacation. I’m thankful to come south when there’s snow on the ground at home. We normally travel in the summer when the kids are school-free and Florida is sweltering.

2) I love my home state of Colorado! It was awesome to watch the Broncos beat the Dolphins with a crowd of Floridians. Regardless of the fact that most of America thinks everyone is Colorado is a pothead, I’m proud to be a native!

3) Somehow, my seven year old son learned the word “just” as “thest.” That is how he says it and how he spells it when he’s writing though he’s never had a lisp. Re-teaching him such a common word is proving rather difficult.

4) Driving over Seven Mile Bridge, listening to the Flaming Lips, feeling young and old at the same time made me realize what a huge part music has in my life. Almost all of our date nights involve a concert. Most of my trips are to see bands I love play somewhere else. I love how certain albums embody very specific time stretches in my life. The Cure Disintegration will always be my fourteen year old soundtrack. Transmissions From the Satellite Heart plays out song by song my first year dating my husband. Swelling with pride when my son asks me to replay a song so he can master the lyrics always reminds me of Paul’s Boutique and my best friend’s determination to learn all of Mike D’s, Adrock’s, and MCA’s lyrics long before Google could reveal every word in seconds. At Thanksgiving dinner, my son suggested we go around the table having every person tell something they’re grateful for. His response, “God and my family.” This boy who learned about God from word of mouth? We’ve  never taken our children to any services. Aside from a family wedding, the only time I took my son to church was to see the Flobots perform at a charity event. My first actual experience with him in a church was to see a favorite band perform-my own kind of spirituality I suppose.

5) Our road trip rental car smelled like Bengay sore muscle rub because my son is addicted to Altoids and not as I originally thought because of my husband’s addiction to minty Nicorette gum. I’m thankful both my boys always have such fresh breath.

6) After listening to my ten year old endlessly chanting, “My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard” I put a stop to it by firmly explaining that “milkshake” is a slang term for breast using a breastfeeding jiggling gesture that will probably scar her for life.

7) Speaking of lessons learned too soon, we realized belatedly it’s definitely far too early to show Jameson the South Park Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo You Tube video. We’re hoping for a holiday break school suspension reprieve this year and hilarious body function humor was probably the wrong choice.

8) Florida has its own schedule. As I feel myself flying towards forty, I find it amusing to watch my husband working a puzzle on a Friday night nursing a fuzzy navel fearing his mid-life crisis repercussions. Thirty-eight actually feels pretty young in Florida.

9) Some other Only-in-Florida things…… bizarre wall art, non-stop white wicker, and Silver alerts-like Amber alerts for missing children, Silver alerts are for missing elderly suffering dementia or other ailments.

10) Back to the thanks, I’m grateful to not be flying home on a red eye. After a six hour red eye flight last June to Costa Rica, stuck in a row with seats that don’t recline, in the very back next to a constantly flushing toilet, apparently amidst the flight attendants “break room” where they gossiped and cackled ALL NIGHT LONG, I somehow forgot the pain and exhaustion of hellish overnight flights and booked the four of us on a red eye into Fort Lauderdale. After a mostly sleepless four hour flight we drove two hours down to Key Largo arriving pretty much hallucinating with sleep deprivation.

11)  I’m thankful to return home minus our last remaining guinea pig who passed away while we were out of town. Thankful, after nearly four years, I’ll NEVER have to clean that cage again. Thrilled to come home to my house where the water heater could certainly be bigger, but the water pressure is actually existent and hot showers last longer than three minutes.

All in all, it was a wonderful vacation, although after two gym-free weeks of eating almost only fried fish, my jeans are too tight to even fit a chapstick in my pocket. It just serves to remind me that LIFE IS GOOD-mosquito bites, bicker twin road trips, unpacked suitcases included. Now for the super rude awakening that it is almost Christmas, my tree is still in the garage somewhere, my shopping is a dot on the horizon, and my children are already days behind on the advent calendars.