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their only child, at 3 1/2 years old and followed my father's brother to Miami Beach, Florida. We lived in a small, ramshackled apartment. Even then, I hated the torrid weather, but loved the beaches and pools and the wafting tropical breezes.
I met a cute boy in high school, and that made it a little more bearable. At least, there was love, for as long as it lasted. Decided to go to the University of Miami for my B.A. degree. I could have qualified for an Ivy League school, but didn't want to leave him.
I got the hell out of there after graduation in 1962, then my husband brought me back, where he dumped me for the last time. I jumped out for a final time in 1972. Continued to visit in winter only until my parents were both gone in 1991.
We're going back in December 2007 to the Art Deco - Alton Road area of South Beach, just a couple of blocks from Washington Avenue, where my family made a first beachhead in the slums that were there before they re-invented the place I called home as a very young girl.
We go to the west coast of Florida and to Orlando, but only in the December to February time frame. Heat? Been there, done that. Humidity? Same thing. Hurricanes? I've been through a few but NOTHING like what went on a few years ago.
I don't envy you there. I used to run the airconditioner from April to October. That's when energy was cheap.
Love you, Gray Warrior. "And your little (duck), too!"
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