What I love about living in Florida
Five years ago I left my home state of Pennsylvania to begin an adventure here in the sunshine state. If you ask me why my husband and I made such a dramatic change in our lives, we’d give you endless numbers of reasons.
Since our move, I haven’t been back often to visit my family, partly because of the covid pandemic. But recently, we spent a weekend in Happy Valley and had a great time. We got to see my entire family who lives in PA during our visit. Some I haven’t seen since our move.
Fall in PA, is a wonderful time of the year. We arrived right before the peak leaf season. The days were pleasant and the nights were chilly. A nice change from the 90 plus degree days we’ve been having in Florida.
As a reminder why I wanted to leave, we also had cloudy, rainy days. When the damp air makes you feel cold to the bone and no matter what you do, you can’t get warm.
Sometimes you appreciate things most when you are away from it. It’s easy to complain about the humidity and hot temperatures of Florida’s summers. But digging out my winter coat in October, dressing in layers and changing my socks for the second time in one day, I remembered why I love Florida so much.
They call Florida the sunshine state for a reason. State College, on average, gets 178 sunny days per year. In contrast, Venice gets 252 sunny days. That alone has made a huge difference in my mood. It wasn’t uncommon to go days, weeks or almost an entire month without seeing the sun in Pennsylvania. Here, if we have one cloudy day I can feel the shift in my disposition.
We live just a few short miles from the beach. I love watching the sunset and listening to the sound of the ocean. I find it so relaxing. Gazing at the horizon and seeing nothing but vastness calms me and makes all the things I’m stressing about seem so trivial. While I love being in the mountains too, it was harder to get to a place where I saw nothing but nature. Plus, isn’t the turquoise water just spectacular?
After spending years working in all kinds of weather conditions, it is so nice not to have to worry about whether it is going to snow, or sleet or freeze rain. I felt like I lived in a winter coat for 5 months out of the year. In Florida, I never have to bundle up in 3, 4 or even 5 layers just to keep warm.
In the opposite vain, even though the summers get really hot, I spend more time outdoors. I’m much more active because of it. And while I break into a sweat after a bike ride, or weeding the yard, I can jump in the pool and cool off. And that is such a refreshing feeling.
Regardless of whether I’m in the north or the south, there are pros and cons to living in either part on the country. Who knows where this adventure will take us, but as long as I’m in Florida, I’m going to soak up all the things I love about the sunshine state!
