Sorry it’s been a bit since I last posted. I had a turn of events in Florida which kept me there longer than expected and I haven’t had much time to post since I’ve been back. I don’t want to bore you with all the details of my trip to Florida so I’ll touch on some of the highlights.
First I’ll give you just a little background. I went to Miami for a web design internet conference so this was a work trip. I was fortunate that the hotel the conference was in didn’t have any rooms left available, so I had to look for another one which led me to a quaint hotel called The Clinton Hotel on S. Beach. It was in the thick of all the shopping, restaurants, clubs, and the beach. This really allowed me to explore a certain part of Miami when I was out of the conference walls.
Here are some of the best things (in no particular order) about the 3.5 days I spent in Miami/S. Beach:
- I thought I was in another country. In fact it felt like I was in an affluent city somewhere in Central America.
- The very warm 75 degree weather and sunshine.
- The conference gave me some much needed inspiration for some of my web projects.
- Traveling alone allowed me to meet many new people, which was such a treat.
- Having a half day to spend walking around, shopping, eating, and spending time on the beach.
- I was shocked by the beauty of both the men and women I saw on every street corner.
- Being immersed in the Spanish language and Latin music, and having the opportunity to dance a little Merengue.
- Meditating on the Beach.
- Having 3 separate conversations that lead to the male counterpart saying (after asking if I had a boyfriend), “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t assume you date men, you never know these days.” I was shocked and so pleasantly pleased with this social consciousness.
- My taxi cab rides. All my cab drivers were from Haiti except one. This was a little oddity in my Miami experience, as they spoke French to one another.
Here are a few things that upset me about Miami:
- The people litter like crazy. There are trash cans all over the place and yet they use the ground as their trash receptacle.
- This ties in with #1 but I was shocked to see the amount of trash left on the beach after people left.
- There is NO recycling anywhere. I mean none. Hello, is Miami not part of this planet too?
The conference was over on a Friday and I decided to fly out on Monday and visit some friends in Ft. Lauderdale over the weekend. Isaac (Mayra’s husband) came and picked me up and our friends Erica & Curtis drove down to stay the weekend at their house. The weekend was filled with mixed emotions as I expected. It’s been a year and a half since Mayra passed away and her families life has really changed.
It was great to see everyone especially her boys Noah & Eli. On Sunday it would have been Mayra’s 33rd birthday. Isaac took the boys to the cemetery while Erica, Curtis and I decided to go spend some time at the beach. Mayra loved the beach and we wanted to do something she would have liked to do. Isaac brought home this great Israeli food for lunch which was from one of Mayra’s favorite restaurants. It was a nice day and one that Mayra shared with all of us.
Here are a few pics from the weekend:
Erica & I. So thankful for our friendship, but continously missing our 3rd Amiga.
Noah’s self-portrait. I love this pic. You can see the innocence of childhood in his eyes and how happy he was to be using my camera. His expression over most of the weekend was one of concern and confusion.
Here’s little Eli who is a little older than 2. He loves his big brother and wants to do everything like him. Noah is very patient, and loves teach his brother and show him the way.
Here’s a pic I took of Noah & I during the super bowl game. There were quite a few people over the house and Noah is pretty shy. I was thankful for this because Noah wanted to share my lap when he spent time hanging out with everyone.
Late on Sunday I got a message from my Mom that my grandmother had fallen out of bed and broke her hip. She was in an Orlando hospital and they were heading down there in the morning. I decided to cancel my flight to go visit Gram. We weren’t sure what was going to happen and I wanted to see her since I was only 3 hours away. It’s funny, my grandmother has definitely been the head Matriarch for my extended family and has brought us together for many birthdays, holidays, and the like for my 31 years. Here she was again, without realizing it, bringing the family together. With an unfortunate set of circumstances, I was blessed to be able to spend unexpected time with my family.
It was great visiting with my parents, sister, and Aunts. We spent quite a bit of time waiting for Gram to finish with tests and then come out of surgery. This gave us time to catch up and chat about this or that. Gram’s fighting soul pulled her through surgery and she is currently in a rehab center where they need to get her up and walking again.
I had one last unexpected event happen while in Florida. I had booked my flight to leave out of Orlando on Wednesday morning and gave my friend Arian from high school a call that I haven’t seen in years. It was great to catch up with her and meet her little boy for the first time. She lives 15-20 minutes from the airport, so I had plenty of sleep that night with a short ride to fly out.
My work trip, which was very productive, also allowed me some great personal time. I enjoyed the warm weather, the sites, the new people I met, and visiting with friends & family.