My story related to living in FL -
My Mom became interested in moving down to FL in the early 80s when the big housing boom was being marketed to people in the Northeast where i lived.
She decided it was time for a 'fresh start', and divorced my Dad and took me down there with her in a small moving truck in 1981.
We lived in a new housing development in Seffner, FL, which is about a 30 minute ride on the highway to WDW.
I was 10 years old.
For a 10 year old, i found it hard to adapt.
Coming from the Northshore area just outside of Boston, and living with the local weather patterns and having the sea always right there made it a real departure from the 'norm' for me.
Our new home was a complete opposite of everything i had ever known up to that time.
School was a drag...and i learned early on to shed my then heavy Northeastern accent as the kids immediately noticed and taunted me. I must have done a good job, because today people often ask me where i am from because they cannot place a accent. When i tell them, they are amazed. I guess i have FL to thank for that!
School was strict compared to the looser feel i had already been familiar with. If you were sent to the principals office, or did something out of line, you were 'paddled' ...that is, a huge wooden paddle was slapped against you butt. I was paddled once...not sure what the offense was. Probably my Northeastern accent.
At that time, even at that young age, i felt a lot of resentment from adults who lived locally. Not everyone was like that...shoot, a lot of folks i met and knew there were the nicest people ever. A few though...you could tell they had some long buried resentments from the past.
The weather was probably my least favorite change.
My nose bled every afternoon for about a week after i was living there for about two weeks. I guessed later it was likely the drier air, or being at a lower sea level. A new friend i met in the neighborhood taught me a trick to stop it by pinching the bridge of my nose. It works great !
I found the daily 5pm thundershower amazing in the summertime. It was like magic.
I missed the autumn colors, and believe it or not the snow, and the general change of seasons which seemed to have less of a visual presence.
I did not like fire ants...sweet tea was a beverage from outer space for me ( i now love it )....and i wondered how my next door neighbors could eat so much southern fried food and never seem to gain a inch.
I learned the terrible truth about oranges when i moved to FL - they are NOT orange at all..but actually yellow!
I would walk by a huge orange grove on the way to school and see them all hanging on the trees. We had a orange tree in our own yard, and it was surreal seeing them in their natural state.
I also learned about how much the gators love to eat marshmellows. Yep..they love em' as much as racoons do up North.
I never went to the beach...or swimming in the ocean...the 3 years i was there. I was landlocked compared to my previous digs. When i think back to that alone, it boggles the mind. Most people think of 'beaches' or 'beach living' when they think of Florida.
It was a different world for me then.
In 1983 i returned to the northeast to live with my Dad.
Of course it was not all bad...i loved being able to visit WDW often.
My first visit was in July of 1983, a few months after EPCOT opened. That changed my life...and had a huge impact on me.
In the end, moving to FL was one of the best things that had ever happened to me but at that time i had no idea. I was too young to realize what was taking place, but i knew WDW was effecting me on a much deeper level then your typical tourist out for just a day of fun distractions.
Years later when i was a adult that had traveled a bit and experienced some adventures it was clear moving and living in FL was a catalyst for me. Although i was not a huge fan of the weather and lack of seasonal changes today i appreciate it on a different level.
As an adult, I like it because it IS different. I can blend in like a local now and know the ropes.
I have great friends there who make it a pleasure to return there again and again.
A few years back i thought of moving back. Instead, i decided not to for now because it is a place i like to visit yearly but i do not think i would want to make it a permanent home.
California has a lot more appeal to me these days.
FL - nice place to visit often...not a place i think i would want to live again in a permanent state.
