Coppelclan.com: And Then There Were 2

Mom and Mando 083
Yesterday, Mom and Amanda went back to KY. I always feel so bummed when they leave and I wonder why we don't live in a world where everyone can get to anyone within a matter of 20 minutes. Mom's solution is that we all live in a compound. Right now, she and Amanda live two houses away from one another and the obvious would involve me buying the casa in the middle. That neighborhood wouldn't know what hit 'em.

I've tried my best to sell them on the beautiful beaches and scenery of South Beach, but the severe allergy attack that got the best of both of them while they were here derailed my efforts.

In the past, Amanda has always used the heat as an excuse for why she could never live here. That argument was bust this week as we were subjected to 65 degree days. They were in Heaven - I've never seen anything like it. On South Beach, if it hits anything below 70 degrees, the locals whip out their scarves and gloves to bear the cold. Amanda and Mom? They were loungin' on the beach in their bikinis in the hopes of catching a few rays. As for me, the weather was torture (as anything outside of my "two degree window of comfort" is unbearable) - ask Ben about that, he'll tell ya. But, I was willing to pretend that this was the norm in the hopes of sparking their insatiable desire to relocate. Yet, with a change in temp comes change in foliage, and whatever it was that was blooming while they were in town put the final nail in the coffin. By the time they left they were coughing, sneezing and carrying around Kleenex - I think we gave our local CVS their best quarter of the year. So no dice on convincing them to make SoBe their home. Perhaps I should focus on a timeshare?

Last night Ben and I were exhausted. My family was in full-vacation mode and I haven't treated South Beach like a vacation since I first moved here two-and-a-half years ago. When I moved here, I had visions of diving into the ocean after work, lounging on the beach every weekend and dancing to the best beats on a regular basis. Although these things do happen, they don't happen nearly as often as I'd hoped - mainly because I have these little things called "responsibilities" that make all the fun stuff a little more difficult to come by from time to time. Well, this explains why I am so tired - we were full-steam ahead the entire time. Maybe I'm getting too old for this?

And to top it all off, the trip ended with a little irony. We were walking down Washington Ave on their second-to-last night and browsing through some of the stores. I heard a loud thump and turned around to see Ben, who had barely dodged a large coconut shell that had plummeted to the ground from a really tall palm tree. Did you realize that 20 people a year die from falling coconuts? (Thank you, Hems, for giving me something else to worry about!) Thankfully this coconut was empty, but the aftermath of the falling fruit was this powder-like substance that fell slowly to the ground, just like snow. If you look closely enough, you can see it surrounding the carcass. I tried to get Amanda to stand under it in the hopes of tricking everyone to believe that we had a snow-storm, but she was worried about getting the gunk in her hair. They were both a little bummed that they missed KY's first snow while here, so I was glad that I was able to share our version of snow with them.

After dropping them off at the airport, I was feeling really down. It stinks that we live so far away from one another. I feel the same way about my childhood best friends. It's wonderful, however, that every time we are together it's as though we haven't missed a beat - but there is so much in their lives that I don't get an opportunity to be a part of and vice versa. In my perfect world, one could travel from one side of the earth to the other in the same amount of time it takes to do a morning Starbucks run. Oh, one can dream, right?

During the drive home from the airport I was reminded why I love living here so much. It's a little slice of Heaven every day - beautiful weather, one can wear shorts year-round, the ocean is 3-blocks away from our house, our amazing friends, the beautiful views and, of course, the fact that I met the love of my life here. This photo is from the Causeway that leads to the island where we live, I just had to snap a shot out of the window. Sometimes I find myself saying, "how beautiful" out loud when no one else is in the car. This gorgeous place probably isn't a forever home, but it's absolutely perfect for right now.