I Went to Florida

Intercoastal Waterway in Boca Raton, FL

I went to Florida because I wished to live haphazardly, to confront only the non-essential parts of life…(apologies to Thoreau)

The Gold Coast of South Florida, from Palm Beach to Miami, has no industry, no farming, and no tangible productiveness. Other than an occasional tech company, it is an economy based on luxury and leisure. Services cater to tourists and retirees: restaurants, hotels, spas, art galleries, hair and nail salons, and stores that repeat themselves endlessly as you cruise along the broad avenues at a snail’s pace. Of course there are golf courses, beaches, and condos galore.

Personally, I am enjoying the many festivals during the high season. For example, Delray Beach has the Art Festival and the Garlic Festival (which is really a music festival at which you can buy garlic-flavored anything including ice cream). I love being near the Norton Art Museum in Palm Beach and the Boca Raton Museum of Art.

I feel as if I’m on an extended vacation in a sunny, warm climate. The sub-tropical setting with sunlight sparkling on blue water lifts my spirits. Flocks of red-beaked ibises walk effortlessly through hibiscus hedges. Long-legged birds fly by in prehistoric grandeur. Will these sights ever become commonplace? I look out my window at palm trees that seem cartoon like. They provide no shade, grow no coconuts, and serve no purpose other than to remind us every day that we’re not in Pennsylvania anymore. Behind our unit, there is a very natural lake with a fountain that lights up at night. With all of the mirrored walls in our condo, the effect is rather psychedelic.

…and see if I could not learn what Florida had to teach, and not, when I returned to the North, discover that I had not lived.

Thoreau “went to the woods” and I went to the Pines of Delray North; he learned something, and I hope I do too.

Beneath the surface, our complex has a sense of community that looks after its own. I’m just starting to feel this now in our second season here. Retirees come here largely from the Northeast and Canada to escape the frigid winters. Together they form clubs and organize parties and trips. A volunteer teaches an exercise class 3 times a week. A retired artist teaches our weekly watercolor class. The residents help each other out, celebrate holidays together, and tease and joke with each other. Many came here as couples because they had friends or relatives in the Pines. Now many are widowed, but they are not alone.

And we are not alone here. No doubt this area of Florida is way over-built and crowded. The villas and condos are intruding on the Everglades. Now that the recession is here, building has slowed. I read in the newspaper about many efforts to save the Everglades and its flora and fauna. Wood storks that were once endangered are now resurging. Environmentalists plan to re-create water flows that once naturally cascaded from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades. Water plants offer nature walks through wetlands as part of their reclamation program.

It is a different type of life here than what I’m used to. In some ways it is more urban and glamorous. It is also crowded and paved and redundant. Yet there is a reason why birds and people flock to South Florida: the climate, the sunshine, and the beaches. By coming here, I hope I have learned something about being part of a community, appreciating this area for what it is, and searching for the authentic Florida that it once was.