Snowbird Alert!

It's a busy week here in SoFlo. Despite the fact that many snowbirds fly back north after Easter and Passover, there are lots of spring breakers here for their week off from jobs in the Northeast. And none are as grateful to be heading south as my dear friends, Kathy and Bonnie. They were supposed to have taken off from Newark at 9:30 this morning but were delayed four friggin' hours because of snow! I think the April Fool gods were off by a day. Kathy and Bonnie are en route now, and I will be picking them up and taking them straight to happy hour. I think they will need that.

As I am told by friends who are permanent residents here, Floridians hate the snowbirds . . . but love their money. That's kind of harsh, I know, but the point is that winter in the South is too trafficked, too busy, too crowded, too much. But having spent nearly all my life in the Northeast winters, I applaud anyone who can find the means to spend some time in a southern climate. And if you can't, I hope your home has ample warmth. (I do miss a winter fireplace, snuggly blankets, and Crockpot comfort food, although not in April.)

Tourism is big down here, so the snowbirds support that industry. I don't see that changing. In fact, it is likely to become more and more congested here as the last of the Baby Boomers reach retirement age. And all of this begs the question: are we born into the geographical area that best suits our personalities and needs? Perhaps that was true at one time, but it seems less and less likely now. I have always been drawn to tropical climates, before I even knew where they were located. Reggae music touches my soul. I was 22 years old before I ever flew in an airplane, and that was a flight to visit a friend who'd moved to Florida. So it's not like I was well-traveled and wanted to spend time on Oahu or in Bali. I knew nothing of tropical locations; I just wanted to exist in one. Had I been part of the Yanomami tribe of South America in a past life? Maybe I bore my children in a Polynesian country?

Or maybe I was an Inuit and desperately prayed for a different reincarnation.

The bottom line is this: life is easier down here. Native Floridians know nothing of the hard work required to get through a Northeast winter. Shoveling snow, chopping wood, cleaning the ash out of a woodstove, navigating a power outage in sub-zero temperatures, flushing a toilet with snow, slip-sliding your car on black ice . . . People of the North are tough and resilient by necessity.

Been there, done that. But look! The sky is blue, the temp is 82 degrees, and girlfriends are on their way! Here's to the warmth!