REFLECTIONS

Been in Florida for three weeks now, going on four; a real whirlwind, oddly enough.  I spent a few days with my niece Christal and her significant other, Josh, and then a few days with my old friend from summer camp, Lon, and his family (Sally, Caleb, and Lindsey.)  After that, I drove down to Lake Placid and have spent more than two weeks with my Mom and my sister Pat, fitting in the trip to Sebring International Raceway.  Now I'm in a rundown trailer park in Tampa, waiting for my son Austin to arrive in the (very) early morning for our trip to Mardi Gras.

It's been interesting to go through these different iterations.  I have a little bit of difficulty in meeting up with people, even though I like them.  I'm basically an introvert, and sometimes I have to encourage myself to get out with people when my natural inclination is to do things alone.  I wouldn't say I'm shy, exactly, but it feels like that sometime.  I'm grateful to have been made welcome everywhere I've been and have used the experiences I've had to further personal growth.

Staying at Mom's was very different.  I felt at home in a familiar way, which was helped by the calm quiet in the house and the neighborhood.  I used the time to catch up on stuff like tax preparation and other business odds and ends, and to ride my bike about fifteen miles a day and to swim.  I actually got up to a mile a day, which is a big deal for me as I've never been a swimmer.

I have mixed feelings about the lifestyle at my Mom's community of Covered Bridge, which is an over 55 gated community outside a small town in the center of Florida.  You can buy half of a duplex for around $70k and live very well there on a limited budget.  My Uncle Jack lives there, and he says his house costs him less than $400/month including taxes, insurance, HOA dues, cable, phone, utilities, and maintenance (like a new roof).  There is a clubhouse, a rec room with exercise equipment and pool tables, a shuffleboard court, a library, a pool and spa, and more, all included.  Lawn care and more that I can't remember are also included.  HOA for all of that and common area maintenance is $85/month, less than I paid for cable TV at home.

My grandmother lived there until she passed away at 103.  She averred, "There's something to be said for living where the sun is always shining and the people are always smiling."  Both parts of that statement are true for this community.  I enjoyed the quiet, the swimming, the library, and everything else.

And yet...I found myself fretting about waking up each day with no goals other than to enjoy myself and to stave off deterioration.  I don't know if I could do that.  The idea of living with few cares and few expenses is very appealing, but I don't know if I would be running TO something or running AWAY from something.

Arriving here in Tampa is actually a bit of a shock.  This RV park, while close to the airport and therefore suiting my immediate needs, is in a very seedy neighborhood.  The park was here first, since the 1920s, when there was nothing here but a two lane dirt road.  Mobile home parks with worn out single wides dot the area, and the stick built or concrete block houses here are old and tired.  Dollar stores, bars, and convenience stores fill in the corners, and people of various races and colors wait quietly for the bus in between the corners. 

Lately, I've been hanging out with people with homes on lakes, people who race sports cars, and people who live quiet retirement lives.  It's remarkably and coldly evident that none of those things are remotely on the radar screen of the folks in this neighborhood.  They might as well expect to live on the moon.

I've only glimpsed the lives of the 1% on this trip.  In Pacific Palisades I visited people in neighborhoods occupied by such luminaries as Sugar Ray Leonard and Eddie Murphy, and I brushed shoulders with multimillionaires at the Sebring Racetrack.  Funny, but the gritty reality of these Tampa streets seems less foreign to me than the lives of those people.

Being alone again after several weeks of being with friends and family is bracingly different.

Tomorrow Austin arrives to spend five days with me.  I am TOTALLY ready to be with him.