A few years ago, it was a strong possibility that I'd end up living in Florida. That might seem like a pretty random thing to say, so let me explain......
I was engaged to a guy who I thought I'd spend the rest of my life with; a guy whose parents and younger siblings moved to Florida. Whilst it had always been their dream, the speed with which the move took place took everyone by surprise. They went to check property out in August and by November they were gone. They'd flown across the Pond to begin their new life and my (ex) fiance was struggling to hold his old one together. He missed them terribly and it gradually became a foregone conclusion that after we married, we would fly out and join them. Obviously, I was apprehensive...while I felt happy that he would eventually be reunited with his family, I was struggling to come to terms with the fact that I would be saying goodbye to mine. And as someone who'd never lived more than an hour and half away from them, and who'd never gone more than a fortnight without seeing them, it would be hard! Especially as my mum is confined to a wheelchair and travelling to the USA would have been extremely difficult for her. Add to that a range of other issues including the validity of the degree I was studying and the postgrad qualification I was planning to take in Britain before we left, my desire for our future children to be British as well as American and my phobia of thunderstorms and you can begin to see why the situation was not an ideal one.
I was engaged to a guy who I thought I'd spend the rest of my life with; a guy whose parents and younger siblings moved to Florida. Whilst it had always been their dream, the speed with which the move took place took everyone by surprise. They went to check property out in August and by November they were gone. They'd flown across the Pond to begin their new life and my (ex) fiance was struggling to hold his old one together. He missed them terribly and it gradually became a foregone conclusion that after we married, we would fly out and join them. Obviously, I was apprehensive...while I felt happy that he would eventually be reunited with his family, I was struggling to come to terms with the fact that I would be saying goodbye to mine. And as someone who'd never lived more than an hour and half away from them, and who'd never gone more than a fortnight without seeing them, it would be hard! Especially as my mum is confined to a wheelchair and travelling to the USA would have been extremely difficult for her. Add to that a range of other issues including the validity of the degree I was studying and the postgrad qualification I was planning to take in Britain before we left, my desire for our future children to be British as well as American and my phobia of thunderstorms and you can begin to see why the situation was not an ideal one.
However, I'm still here. Mine and my ex's relationship wasn't to be, and we parted. Florida wasn't the reason, but looking back, I don't honestly believe it helped matters. Whether we stayed here or moved there, there was always going to be massive compromise on one of our parts. A compromise that I think would have probably been too big to be workable. Anyway, the boy moved to Florida about 9 months after we split and as far as I know he's still there, building his new life. And I'm here in Manchester with mine.
So where's this post going?, you may ask. Bear with me, I'm getting there, believe me! I've already listed a few things that would have made me unhappy if I'd moved and recently I've become much more aware of another. The seasons. Whilst I love the idea of endless warm and sunny days, I've got a lasting relationship with the much more changeable climate and distinct seasons that I've known all my life. Like any relationship it has its ups and downs. I shiver if it's too cold and wilt in our rare too-hot days. I curse those wet and windy days where an umbrella's absolutely no use and groan in despair at some of our pitiful excuses for a summer. But then there are the ups...the ups that more than make up for the downs. I love the brilliant blue skies and dazzling winter sunshine, especially when teamed with that real nip in the air that we so often get on winter days. And I'm not sure how many other places get to experience those oh-so-indecisive spring days, with half the sky inviting blue and the other half stormy grey. Sun, rain, sun, rain...with always the chance of both and a beautiful rainbow as a bonus. And then there's our too few summer days. We don't get them as much, so my theory is we appreciate them all the more. The rare days when the sun is up at 4 and it doesn't disappear till after 10. Those days where there isn't a cloud in the sky. Those days where it's not too hot, but not too cold and the smell of barbecue smoke and the sound of birdsong, lawnmowers and sprinklers is in the air. But most of all I love autumn. Those increasingly crisp mornings and gloriously coloured leaves. And because my words really can't do it justice, here's just a few pictures that will hopefully show what I mean:
Trees in their full glory. This was taken from my front garden.
A gorgeous tree near my house. I love the russet colour.
Close up of a rainbow opposite my house. There was actually a much fainter rainbow next to it but you can't really see it here.
The original rainbow picture...this is the view from my front garden.
Another rainbow pic...I was messing about with the lighting here!
I love the contrast of the sky colours here...the grey at the bottom drifting into the blue at the top.
The sun shining through the trees on an autumn day...you can just see the carpet of leaves underneath it too.
So there it is...I've finally realised I'm a full-on Autumn addict! What's your favourite season/time of year?
lovely pictures, jules!! i envy people who get to experience a real autumn and winter. i've never had the pleasure (heck, i've never even seen snow in real life if you can believe it... never at the right place at the right time).
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