My fLoRiDa CriTTeRiA

Discovery: Florida has more than the usual pest control-type critters. I don't like Florida. I once dated a guy from there who described the humidity--in winter--as walking through water. Yuck, I was uncomfortable just listening to the description. I also have a philosophy that due to my detest of critters, i.e. bugs/spiders, I should always live in a place that has four seasons to ensure that 1) the bugs never get that big and 2) the cold kills them off at least once a year.

Well, this year our annual convention was in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which also just so happens to be the current home of one of my good friends and her familamidingdong. She'd been asking me to come visit her for a long time but I could never find the time or money (or will power, considering all those bugs/humidity.) Now, with another apparent example of procrastination paying off, I got to visit her for TWO weekends instead of one and work paid for it!

Per her pleas, I flew down the weekend before (when her hubby would be out of town) so we could have some girl time. We played with her kiddos, ate loads of brownies and Costco pizza, watched Gone With the Wind and painted our toe nails. The following Friday, she picked me up and we had a nice relaxing day at the beach on Saturday, ate some fantastic local burgers, took a 2 hour nap (what else were we to do when the kids were sleeping?) and just had fun chatting. It was quite surreal watching people stroll around in shorts, play on the beach, get a small tan and blasting the AC instead of heating in February.

Also, I didn't see one nasty critter (okay one) in my 10 days in Florida. I felt like I understood the state's allure to all those old people just a little bit more.