Thank yew - thank yew - thank yew -- for "The Name Formula!!"
As for " I lived in FL for 30+ years, and have had family continuously in Jensen Beach, FL, enjoyed the delightful beaches there and Stuart and for nigh onto 40 years, with trips to Sanibel, Captiva, etc. ..." --
I was born in Miami, Florida; lived in Coral Gables until I was 9 1/2--
took "Sunday Drives in The Country" to Miami Beach and Mathison Hammock Beach before/during WW II!!
Moved up to Melbourne - later lived there again, and in Port Malabar, Ft. Pierce, Panama City -
On the west coast have been from Tampa/St.Pete down to Ft. Myers - stayed at Anna Maria Island for a vacation with my sister in 1997...
One son is in Lake Worth - the other in Davie, and about to move next month up to Port St. Lucie!
Other beaches - Virginia Beach; up and down North and South Carolina (lived here 4 times in SC, my mother's home state) -- Emerald Isle, Atlantic Beach, Myrtle Beach, Cherry Grove, Hunting Island, Hilton Head...
And you moved up to Chicago???
(using a temporary insanity plea?!!)
Wow .. we coulda been neighbors, XLady!! Left the Bahamas in '68 and lived in My-Amee, off Biscayne Blvd., close to downtown .. then headed to South Dade County .. took rides up Old Cutler Road a million times for the next 25+ years ..until I lost it all in Andrew '92. Re-located to suburb of Tampa until last summer, when the terror and fear of the 4 storms in 6 weeks last year DID put me temporarily in the insanity "ward" of life ... couldn't take it .. and my two great sons answered my 911 call. They both have established lives here and LUVVVV Chicago...I knew they were never coming back to their birth "home."
So, after years of saying "never" to snow, winter .. even though I missed them so ... here I sit .. in a city for the first time in my life, without a car for the first time in my life, looking for a job so I could eat now and then, and feeling some days like I've been abducted by aliens to another planet .. LOL. Never dreamt in a million years I'd end up here, but God is surely directing this play .. and I'm just trying to learn my lines ;).
I'll make one exception to my love of the Atlantic shore ... I took my dream trip to San Francisco, Monterey and Carmel 15 yrs ago ... I was stunned speechless at the glory and beauty of God's handiwork, standing on a precipice over Big Sur .. that is a slice of heaven on earth, for sure... just magnificent.
