Friends Since 7th Grade

When I left Florida back in 1987, I left a number of good friends behind. And I had a very hard time making new ones when I got to Georgia. My old friends in Miami were my lifeline for a very long time. I sound like such an old person, but back in the day before computers and e-mail, kids actually sent handwritten letters in the mail to one another to keep in touch.

I cherished those letters when they came in the mail. I had a number of friends write to me after I moved. Of course, life gets busy, kids are kids and that list of friends eventually dwindled. I had a couple of friends that continued to write letters to me and stay connected. One of those friends is my friend Debra and I love her dearly (friends since 4th grade!). We are still in touch to this day and she came to visit me two years ago in GA. I definitely plan on making to a trip to visit her in the not too distant future.

And then there is Jennifer - and we have also been friends/pen pals since I left Miami. I love Jennifer too. We met in Jr High. I can't believe we have kept in touch for so many years. Almost 30 years. She came to my wedding in 1997 (which meant so much to me) and I went to hers in 2005. (That was actually the last time I had visited my old stomping grounds - it was in 2005 when Jennifer got married. Wow - almost 10 years. Hurricane Dennis decided to make an appearance that weekend! Thank goodness it passed quickly and her wedding went on as scheduled!) We now have families of our own. She has watched me struggle though some things in life, including infertility, and cheered me on when Briana came home. I've watched her go through some struggles as well. She is such a strong person and I admire her very much. 

So, I knew when I went to Miami that I just had to see Jennifer and her husband and meet her adorable kids.

This was us back in the day...

And us now...

And it was amazing to see our kids together...

(Who would have thought that one day we both would have Chinese children - right? LOL! It's really awesome.)

We met at a cool kids entertainment center at a local mall on Thursday afternoon (after visiting the cemetery) so the kids could play. I actually had never been to that particular mall before. I believe it was built after I moved away...

 It was so amazing catching up with Jennifer - in person! I know so much about her life because of e-mail and Facebook, but it was fun talking about all sorts of stuff and reminiscing as well.

Her kids are so adorable. Little Emily...

And Jeremy...

Jeremy made some nice artwork and even made me a picture. So sweet...

Bri and Doug liked the video soccer game...

The kids played for two hours and this little one started to poop out...

We decided to have dinner right at the mall at a restaurant called Mojitos and it was delicious. How good does this look?

 Briana was showing Jeremy how to do "rock, paper, scissors"...

And I brought along one of my favorite Briana dresses to give to Miss Emily. I held on to it for years because I couldn't part with it for some reason. Then I realized I had the perfect person to give it to. I gave it to Jennifer who then handed it to Emily. She loved it! She kept saying "My dress"... 

We ate and then chit chatted some more. Then it was sadly time to go. The kids played some pretend hopscotch before we parted ways...

I told Jeremy I would hang his amazing picture on my refrigerator when I got home. Here it is...

And as for the dress, Jennifer sent me some pictures of Miss E wearing the dress to church. She looked adorable!

My sweetie wearing the dress at age 3...

And now hers..

It was so good getting to see and hug Jennifer again. The visit wasn't long enough! One day I'll be back, but for now, we will continue to stay in touch. Just like we have for all of these years!

After a very full and wonderful Thursday, I knew the next day of our trip (Friday) was going to be absolutely amazing. I was finally going to meet a bloggy/FB friend that I had known for 8+ years - but never met in person. I was beyond excited! More to come...

Remembering My Late Grandparents

You may remember that my grandmother (my dad's mom/Bubbie) passed away last year in May just two days before her 90th birthday.

It was always my intention that when I finally took my big trip back down to Miami/Ft Lauderdale that I would visit with her. Sadly, I missed my chance and went to her funeral last year instead of getting to spend time with her. I still get mad at myself for not making it down there in time. The last time I saw her in person was when Doug, Bri and I went to Ft. Lauderdale for a few days to attend my cousin's wedding in 2008.

I guess this technically was the first visit with family on our spring break trip - even though my grandparents are not in the physical world anymore.

My grandmother was laid to rest next to my grandfather who passed in 1990. They are in a beautiful cemetery in Miami, and I knew I had to go and "visit" them while I was down there. I wanted to show Briana where her great grandparents are buried. I know I stated earlier that I never really remember seeing tall trees at as a kid, but things have changed so much in 28 years. There are so many tall trees around the area now. And the cemetery has many of those beautiful trees...

My grandparents are located under this tall, shady tree with a bench right nearby...

We placed small rocks on their gravestone and Bri picked a little flower to put on there too...

It was sad having to visit them there, but they really are in a beautiful place. They have friends buried nearby as well. I'm so glad I got to stop by and pay my respects. I hope they know we were there. I'd like to believe they know.

I also wanted to go by the condo where my grandparents used to live when I was a kid...

This is not the place where my dad grew up, but it is where my grandparents settled after their kids left home. This is where I remember my grandparents living...

Briana in front of their condo complex...

The outside hallway...

The hallway takes you to the back of the condo where the canal is. And the walk takes you to the condo swimming pool. The condo pool was where my mom would take me and my sister every summer since we didn't have a pool in backyard or in our neighborhood. Every so often my grandmother would join us, but more often she could not because she had to work. She would give my mom the pool key and let us use the pool on our own. It was almost always empty...

This is the pool that my sister and I spent hours upon hours swimming in...

Always lots of ducks around...

It felt so surreal standing in that condo complex again. Sure wish I could have gone into the condo itself - that would have been something.

My grandmother moved away from the complex a few years after my grandfather passed away into a different condo complex. But to me, this will always be the home I remember her living in.

Lots of wonderful memories.

An Evening On Miracle Mile

After lunch, we checked into the hotel, chilled a bit and then went to the pool/hot tub for a while. Then we started getting hungry for dinner. There was a sushi place across the street from the hotel, so we checked it out...

Sushi Maki - and it was really good...

We sat in an outdoor patio - it was a gorgeous night...

Briana ordered bacon fried rice. I've never heard of anything like it before, but everything is better with bacon - right? ;)

Our sushi...

After eating, we walked along the mile to see if there was an ice cream shop around the corner. All the trees are wrapped in lights...

Check out this really cool hairdresser...

Love window shopping at all the little boutiques...

This used to be a movie theater but now it is a playhouse...

Here it is in the day...

My parents and aunts and uncles all came here to see movies back in the day...

Instead of finding an ice cream shop, we found a gelato shop (even better!!!)...

It was beyond delicious...

We squeezed so much in to just one day. But the next day was when things really got rolling for us. It was the first day we started visiting with our friends and family.

Before I get started talking about the rest of our trip, I want to let you know that we did not go to the beach at all on our visit. Crazy, right? We did see Biscayne Bay one evening, but we spent no time sitting on the sand. I know that might seem very strange with being in Florida and everything. All of our travels took us inward and away from Miami Beach and Ft. Lauderdale Beach. Where I used to live is closer to the Everglades. Basically, you can drive about 20 minutes and hit the swamp. So as a kid, we really didn't go to the beach all that often. I'm sure though that if I had been a teenager with a car in Florida, I would have spent a lot of time at the beach.

My next trip to Florida will be a beach trip. For sure!