Living the "Florida Life"

What is it really like to live in Florida?

Living in coastal Florida means that we are surrounded by water, seriously its everywhere! You would think that we would go to the beach constantly or at least do fun water related activities but no, we didn't. The first year that we lived here, my husband and I rarely went to the beach with our kids or really partook in any water related activities. And to be honest, I'm not really sure why. It's not like we didn't know how to swim or had any sort of phobia, we just didn't go often.

Towards the beginning of our second summer in Florida, Rick and I decided to take the girls to a beach-side restaurant for dinner. It was absolutely gorgeous! The weather was perfect, a nice warm, salty, breeze and there was music in the background as the sun was setting. Our girls danced along to the sound of the music and the sky was painted in the most beautiful colors you'd ever see. While we sat there, we talked reflected on the previous year and how we were enjoying the "Florida life" and we both came to the realization that we hadn't actually lived that lifestyle at all. Florida has so much to offer yet we didn't do any of it. After that evening, we decided that we were going to spend the next year actively living the "Florida life." And...we did!

We spent our time going to the beach, eating at local beach-side restaurants, hiking coastal trails, visited clear springs, checked out the wildlife, began taking an annual family trip to the keys, snorkeling, shelling, building sand castles, visiting different docks/ports, and so much more. We did all of these things with our girls in tow and had a blast while doing it. After our second year had passed we again had a talk, reflecting on our second year in Florida. The conclusion that we came to was, we really enjoyed our time in Florida so much more than we did our first year and we attribute it to actively engaging in what Florida has to offer. It comes as absolutely no surprise that Florida is one of the fastest growing states based on population and is projected to have the 10th highest population by the year 2030, according to the Florida Chamber of Commerce. 

A lot of people are moving to Florida because it has so many wonderful things to experience. Sometimes, to be honest, I do feel bad that my girls have not experienced seasons, or have never seen real snow but those times are few and far between. Instead, I choose to focus on all of the opportunities we can give them because of where we live and for now, that is good enough for me.

 

Brittany Paige

I am a 6^th grade teacher, mom, and currently working on my first novel. If you would like to connect, you can follow me on Twitter @BrittPaigeBooks or follow my blog!