Went to a birthday party over the weekend.The entire family is incredibly nice and they all have a great sense of humor. Well, not like, a collective sense of humor. Their own individual.. whatever.
Both parents are attorneys and many of the kids in attendance were from the birthday girl's new Montessori day care. It was really nice - everyone was friendly, the kids were funny and cute, but the thing that struck me the most was that the party was a mixed collection of intelligent people like I haven't experienced in a long time. I've been living in Florida for about 6 years now, and I can only hope that I held up my end of the conversation, and didn't just sit on the edge of the sofa, drooling blankly. There were a couple recent transplants to south Florida - the women were from LA and New York, and when I asked them how they were adjusting, they both commented on the lack of culture in south Florida.
Somewhere, in the back of my head, a dim light went on... (then it flickered, then it went out). I remembered how strange it was for me when I first moved to Florida to have to travel for at least 45 minutes to get to a museum, or the weird lack of live music, or films in the park, or parks, for that matter, or big crowds at the libraries, or buzzing bookstores, or tapas bars... or just people who looked interesting in general. I realize I've slowly come to regard these things as luxuries, which is strange, for someone who grew up in New York and always had immediate interestingness within reach. Six years later, I've apparently had a lobotomy, and could only sit on the edge of the sofa and nod dully.
But there were blackberries. And the birthday girl got some squeaky shoes that I really, really wished came in my size. And the birthday girl's dad made scary looking fish out of spiny kiwanos. And I got a piece of cake, although someone else's kid made a beeline for the cake line like her hair was on fire... ok, it was my kid.
We like cake, shut up.
1 comment:
Your transition from missing the culteral diversity and depth in NY to eating cake was perfect!
You know all too well,"uo can't have your cake and eat it too".
People have come to Florida for many reasons...escape the harsh winters, live in a better climate, clean air,the allure of tropical nights, a place to escape. "Leave your Mozart and Chagall paintings at the border" the sign read.
Once tanned, and one too many margeritas served, we asked..."where's the culture?"
Bowling club meets on Tuedays at 7 p.m.
oh. Marc :)
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