Please don't hate me because I'm warm!
I understand that's it's cold in Missouri right now.
And, no, I'm not there.
And, yes, I feel guilty about leaving you all to cope with the endless rain (which seeps into our basements and destroys our gravel roads).
Along with the other hundreds of weak, aging Americans populating the highways that travel south, I have temporarily abandoned my home state to seek a warm spot for my aching joints.
It isn't as if I haven't paid my dues, living by myself out in the hills of rural southeast Missouri, bringing my firewood in with a wheelbarrow, chipping ice off the car, plugging up holes in the basement, sitting in the dark during ice storms, listening to trees crash around me, cooking toast in the fireplace, sleeping on the sofa under three blankets and two cats.
C'mon, folks! Yesterday it was 88 degrees in southwest Florida! Why would I want to be anywhere else?
There are FLOWERS blooming down here, for Pete's sake! F-l-o-w-e-r-s!!! You remember flowers, don't you? They come in all colors--red! (my favorite), yellow, blue! The medians in the highways have flowering TREES!
I admit that the locals get a bit frustrated, when I ask JD to slow down so I can take pictures of that beautiful tree with the red blooms. They just don't understand. Everything is one color at home--gray! Can I help it if I'm bedazzled by the rainbow of bloom here in that sunny peninsula where Ponce de Leon searched for the Fountain of Youth??
So what if they honk? Who cares? The way they drive, they're killing each other by the dozens each day.
They live in a virtual paradise, and they're scurrying from lane to lane, hooked up to their headphones, texting like crazy, running into each other's BMW's, honking at anyone with an out-of-state license...
Fools! Do you not see the beauty around you?
Egrets and white ibises poke around in the manicured grass beside the highways, and, if on a side road, rounding a corner, you might see one of the birds snatch up an unlucky lizard.
Today, we plan a trip to the beach. Yes, we could get killed in traffic on the way, but once there, we can sit in the sun (You remember the SUN, don't you? That golden orb of warmth you used to see back in July??). We can walk on the sand and search for seashells. (Now, where did I put that little net scoop that we bought last year?? I think it's in a closet back home.)
Our time is short. Sooner than later, we'll have to load up and return to the frozen north, with hopes that March won't punish us for our unfaithfulness.
From the sunny climes of Ft. Myers, FL, this is your traveling reporter, Madeline, hoping to warm her crooked toes in the sands of Sanibel Island today.
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