While my friends are spread across the world in law school, medical school, graduate school, Americorps and the Peace Corps, I'm back in my hometown, living with my family once again. While my family will always come first in my life, a girl's gotta live a little. Despite modest elder care and budget constraints, my parents and I have made it a mission to get out and have mini-adventures, no matter how small, to avoid staying cooped up in the house, especially as the winter months approach.
That's the awesome thing about Florida, you can still be outside for late into the fall. My dad's been crewing for a friend's friend in local bi-weekly sailboat races all season and having a blast. It's informal and no one takes it too seriously, which makes it all the better-- it's just to keep the weekend warriors out on the water. Occasionally, he takes a family friend or me with him basically just as balance/ballast and we admire the dolphins in the river at sunset. I've also been making a point to appreciate the beach now that I'm living 2 blocks away again, going for walks at low tide when my schedule permits. I've also rediscovered my roller blades I found hiding in the back of my closet.
After being in the habit(/rut) of hitting up Cantina's El Cheapo Mondays every week, my mom and I made a list of new restaurants we want to try instead. We also noted a couple of new shaved iced and frozen yogurt shops that have opened in town. It's a nice treat to get my Grandpa out of the house. Even if it's just for something small like an ice cream cone, it might be his great adventure of the day. He's pretty frugal, but you can almost always lure him into doing what you want if you say you'll split a dinner with him. That's how we ended up having an excellent lunch on the DaKine patio last week. I've also been stopping by the Flying Corkscrew once a week to pick up a fisherman's six-pack and my dad, grandpa and I sit by the fire pit on the patio after dinner and do a gourmet beer tasting.
Last week I convinced Grandpa to come to the pumpkin patch and help me pick out a pumpkin. We ended up getting a couple of pumpkins and making jack-o-lanterns together. It turns out he's really skilled pumpkin carver and he proudly displayed his jack-o-lantern Sunday night for the trick-o-treaters (and dressed up to give out candy, too).
...and then sometimes you've just got to get the hell out of Dodge. So last Thursday I just took myself on over to St. Pete and had an awesome weekend with Tara & Crystal, Caitlin, Todd and Christina, full of football, costume parties, museums, drag shows and The Pier. Good way to spend Halloween.
In between teaching myself cell respiration, trying to keep my family fed, keeping a constant stream of books into the house across the street, chem tests and trying to track down Grandpa Fred's hearing aids, I do pretty well for myself. Next up: Harry Potter World. Can't wait!
PS Adventure suggestions welcome!
