Here I am, back in Florida. I endured a delayed, bumpy flight, into rain. My driver said, " What are you wearing, so I can find you"? The answer a headache. I wait under the Jet Blue sign. Cars pull up to pick up the newest arrivals. They inch to the curb. They slowly roll to a stop. They tentatively look around, delaying all traffic in back of them. More people crawl forward in their cars. They do not honk or yell or get very excited. It is just not normal!
A woman drives up looking for her guests, that have just landed with me. She spots them waiting down the road, waiting under a different sign. Instead of moving the car forward, she leaves the car running, waves her hands and screams, I am here. Nobody sees or hears her but me. The traffic is backing up behind her, the car still running. She tries to move forward but is making no progress. Toto I don't think we are in New York anymore.
Then there is the pool. It is a large outdoor pool surrounded by many buildings. On a warm day the Floridians are in the water. They are doing the " whale walk". This is my creative name for people who slowly march in groups from one side of the pool to the other. They move as a unit. They only look forward, and do not talk. This is a labored process there is resistance from the water. It is calming to watch, sort of like a school of old fish.
My friends have bought apartments here. They are smart, energetic women who lived professional lives in New York. I wait to see if they have become true South Floridians. I am scared, sharks to whales?
Tomorrow is another day in South Florida. The people will continue their antics after I go home. It's a slow moving pace. It's a slow moving place.
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I know some people who moved full-time to Florida, and others who are snow birds. Depending upon their age, the activities they liked before going there, and whether or not they moved into a home in a neighborhood or into a development, especially into a retirement development dictates how fast or slow their lives are paced....BUT, the general pacing IS slower, partially due to the heat and humidity of a good portion of their year. Those who go to the pool do follow the path of the sun and move their positions accordingly, and those who are part of developments and are retired (with time on their hands) do seem to move in groups (reasonable when you consider that their move to that development most likely was motivated by knowing some folks already there or/and due to their liking the activities that were available). So I see the accuracy of your observation.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your stay. It's a "foreign" culture, as in "different."
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