When I flew into FL, it began raining and then hailing. I thought that I left all of that here. Their rain blows and includes sand, which made me feel a little more sandblasted than wet. Loved seeing FL J. She makes me smile just thinking of her. We were very close our senior year of high school and freshman year of college. In some ways, she saved me and brought me back to the person I was after a terrible semester at a joke of a college. I think that I saved her a little too, so it became a very balanced relationship. She eventually became one of those friends that I would always love, but we came to a place where each of us did our own thing and drifted a bit. But when we get back together, as soon as the catch-up time is over, we are right back to our super functional, funny, fun relationship and I enjoy her company more than I can say. We had a chance to talk and talk and talk. Questions, stories, and anecdotes took over and we had the best time!
One of the enlightening discussions we entered centered around relationships - all types, was that with any two people, one has to be the mellow person, while the other gets to be the high intensity one. In FL J's relationship, she is mellow and he is high intensity, in mine, I am the high intensity one. So, in our relationship, FL J is the high intensity one (and she has been since freshman year at least, due to certain situations) and I am the low key, let-it-roll-off-your-back type personality. What we were specifically discussing was that it has to be this way if the relationship is going to function and go forward. We talked this about to death, but it was so interesting to us that we are the opposite together of what we are in each of our respective relationships.
What else did I learn? That I adore FL J and admire her in so many ways. That I desperately want the best for her and her life (always have) and that I value her as a friend and confidante. I learned that Bonefish is delicious and C and I are going to go to the one here in town for my birthday sometime next week. I love Thai food and seafood at the beach is fabulous even if all the patrons are NOT wearing shirts. Marines can be fun and Harleys are seriously cool. I love the beach and the sand and the waves. It is so much fun to see dolphins playing in the surf and to see the huge alligators at Gatorland Zoo.
FL J dropped me off halfway with Miss M, one of my best friends from grade school. She took me back to her home with the husband. I had only met Mr S once before - at their wedding. It seems that Miss M and I had the same idea when each of us planned a wedding; that we needed the other, constant friend right beside us as we said "I do." So, Miss M came up for my wedding and I returned the favor six months later. C loves her to death and she quite enjoys him, and I love Mr S's sense of humor and see that he's perfect for Miss M. So it was entirely fun that I got to spend some time with them.
I enjoyed seeing how another couple lives out their married life. C and I are so random and hodgepodge and unorganized that watching the ways that other couples make it work is intriguing and educational to me. I love that Miss M and Mr S have a community down in FL. They are well loved by friends and at church, some of which is definitely missing in C and my life. Mr S called six to eight friends together the night before my birthday so that we could all go out to dinner (Macaroni Grill rocks), which was so very sweet. Church the next morning was enlightening and Miss M and I had our navy dresses on.
All in all, the trip was a lot of fun and much more distracting than I had anticipated. I had gotten rid of most expectations before I went down there so that anything could happen and it would be fine. I also let each girl know that I was visiting to see her and to spend time and talk with her, not necessarily to sight see or do the FL thing. It was sad to leave because each of these girls had been such a huge part of my life at their own times, but I left knowing that I love them and they love me (made a friend out of the husband) and I can count on them. It's good to know you have friends, especially the loving, supportive, always be there type.
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