Checking in from Florida

Yeah, I'm still in Florida and the weather is still about 18 Billion times better than it is in Western, PA...which reminds me...

Why on earth did I volunteer to live in Western PA? Listen to this people. I was the loudest advocate of vacating Western PA. If you would have asked me a few short months ago where I was headed after graduation, I think my exact answer would have been "Anywhere but W. Pa". But now I have volunteered to stay and work. Don't get me wrong, I love my job and love the people I work with and have some awesome, awesome friends up in yinzerland. But honestly, Smith...what are you thinking?

I was in Miami all last weekend, and it was nothing short of blissful. To walk outside in flip flops and a tshirt (and pants, sometimes) and not feel like my life was going to come to an end because of some arctic deep freeze was nothing short of blissful. Blissful people!! This is some serious good vibe-age going on. And the people I knew in Miami? All successfulnow, and all still as engaging and warm as when I left. I hung out with some people whom I haven't seen for around 8 years, and being back around them made me feel like I never left home. That is a feeling that I know very few people in W. Pa know about because very few of them have lived outside of W.Pa. So if you're reading this and can't relate, I'm not surprised.

Seriously though everyone should take at least a week or two out of their year to go to Florida. I'd venture a guess to say that you'd come back a lot happier, tanner, and appreciative of an area that has lots and lots of culture.

On a more reflective note, I'm still turning over this new year's resolution thing. Let me get pensive for a second too. This is going to seem like it's coming out of nowhere but hear me out. When you make friends with people, stay friends with people. Don't buy into the mentality of "Oh so and so USED to be my friend, but they are not anymore because blah blah blah" I just spent an entire weekend with friends who I haven't seen for a while, and for some of them I could have made excuses to stop being their friend. But you go back, see how much you really do value those friendships, and think to yourself "Is there anything better in this world than a good friend?" I'd say probably not. Granted situations in life, and in relationships make it hard to be friends with people sometimes. But the effort taken to preserve those friendships, and to value the good times that you have had with people, I think, is worth the effort. And do you really want to be sitting on your porch one day, reflecting on your life, and have a list of people who you 'used' to be friends with? Who's friendship you've let go to waste because it was convenient for you? That's garbage. The network of friends who you surround yourself with is a telling sign about one's character and and personality. What does it say about a person when all they have are lists of would-be-friends and the specters of relationships gone awry? Go talk to your old friends, even if it means eating a little crow of sucking up some pride.


That's my story and I'm sticking to it.