Florida Friends

Making friends that are our age in Florida hasn't been easy.  Maybe it's because the state's median age is 38.7, or maybe it's because the vast majority of sailors that we've met seem to be single men over the age of 50.   Whatever the reason, there just doesn't seem to be many twenty-somethings out there doing the same thing that we are.  However, even with these 'age obstacles' , Nate and I have enjoyed branching out of our comfort zone with attempts at making some buddies...and we have!

First, we have Kathy who owns and manages the apartment building and the boat slips that we live aboard.  She and her husband were the 'Canadian Angels' (see a few blogs back) that allowed us to stay behind their house when the boat slip wasn't quite ready for us.  Kathy is totally down to earth and enjoys spending evenings with her tenants drinking wine and laughing with the rest of us late into the evening.  She called Nate one day in a mini panic and asked him to relay the message onto his wife that Lululemon opened a shop in the outlet malls and that he needed to take me there right away.  I love this woman.  

Next, we have 'Uncle Rick'.  Rick lives right next to us in a sailboat called Sea Wolf that he has travelled around the world in.  He Captains other peoples sailboats around the Caribbean and the Bahamas for work because he says that they're too rich and lazy to learn how to do it themselves.  Uncle Rick lends us his white Nissan Sentra and as well as his millions of burnt movies that he gets from NetFlix.  My favorite thing that Uncle Rick does is when he finishes all of his sentences with the words; 'blah, blah, blah'.  

Then there is Mike and Mary.  Mike and Mary live three boats down from us on a boat called Rough Draft with their little doggy Belle - who for some reason, I kept calling Molly in the first month that I knew them.  To me, it just sounded right, Mike, Mary and Molly; but they just politely smiled and let me misname their dog for weeks without saying anything.  These people are so kind and loving.  Mike (who is a writer) picked me up from the airport after I returned from my visit to Calgary, and Mary (who is a massage therapist) bought Nate a delicious chocolate cupcake from a french bakery on his birthday.  These people are genuine and down to earth.  The type of people that don't really seem to exist anymore.    

We're so happy that we have made some connections and true friends for life.  Even though they are a bit older than us, we feel as though age doesn't seem to be much of an issue around here.  People don't judge you on your job or your last name or your appearance or your bank account amount.  It's very different from Calgary in that sense.  I hope that Nate and I will be able to hold onto that idea when we return home to Canada next year.