Oh yes, it gets hot down in Florida, too

I almost forgot what it’s like to be a Floridian. What it means to be a Floridian. How brutal our summers can get. When the heat turns on, coating the land and sticking to everything. A mild spring will do that to you. It will make you forget you’re a Floridian and that you live in a super-charged microwave. It will lull you into a Northern vibe. You know, the kind that makes you think pleasant weather and late-in-the-year cold fronts and light jackets are common. But they’re not. This is Florida. The land where citrus pasteurizes itself on the tree. It gets hot. Scald your hindquarters hot!

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May that little kid voice last forever

Boy, I hope that voice never changes. I was sitting in the rocking chair in my daughter’s room. It was night. She was doing pre-bed reading. She’ll go all night if her absent-minded parents drift off to sleep before she does. And her absent-minded parents often do! I tried to keep my eyes from growing heavy and tipping shut. They were fluffing the pillows and turning in for the night. (No! Don’t do it! She’ll read ‘til 3 a.m. if we let her!)

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Slipped disks and surviving elementary school playgrounds

My daughter was telling me about the games she plays in first grade gym class. Let’s see. There was one called Tiger Tails. What I understand is someone runs around and steals tiger tails from other kids. “Does anyone get horribly maimed like a real tiger attack!?!” I asked expectantly. It was typical dinner table conversation with me. “Um, no,” she said. Then she went on with her story.

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A little technology I wouldn’t mind seeing

I went on a wild time machine ride the other day thanks to a song on satellite radio. It had been on the first CD I ever owned. I got it the same Christmas I got my first CD player. It must have been 1987. Two CDs were all I had, and one of them was INXS. I was blown away by the sound. The perfect sound. Clear. Powerful. The plaster in my room cracked. And there was no hiss. Cassette tapes had hiss. Records had hiss. But not CDs. I didn’t even realize you could make music without it! For me, it was revolutionary technology. As I listened to the song, I thought about our high tech world. How it’s all around us. Ever-changing. Even assaulting. Yet, how much of it is truly revolutionary anymore? Like that first CD player?

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