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| Hot Coffee In The Morning |
Through My Eyes........
By: Jacqueline E. Hughes
At this precise moment, as I plunk away on my flat keyboard, I am so grateful for my steaming mug of HOT coffee! Not necessarily to drink...although, my addiction to caffeine is quite evident to anyone who knows me...but rather, for the ability to place a strangle-hold on the scalding piece of pottery with my semi-frozen appendages! Such bliss for my fingers as the Orlando temps linger in the low thirties outside for the second day in a row. It is around six in the morning and already I fear that my biggest regret today will be the fact that we decided to remove, much too soon, the old sheets covering our delicate plants for warmth. Sadly, for the plants, only time will tell.
Within the past nearly seventeen years of residing in Central Florida I have observed many things with regard to living the Floridian lifestyle. Two of them have formidably stood out the most for me. The first I like to call 'Everyone's God-given right-to-turn-right,' or, 'The inability to be able to bring your vehicle to a complete stop!' People...a red light or a stop sign in front of you truly means you must come to a complete STOP before proceeding with your right turn!! This is especially annoying when I feel I've been experiencing senescence as I sit in the 'left turn only' lane for several hours (exaggeration implied) waiting for my green arrow privilege of turning left, only to have to 'play chicken' for that honor with the chosen-by-the-gods driver making his cruising right turn across the intersection from me!!
And, along these same lines of ridiculous to dangerous... I refer to the people who consider that oncoming traffic should willingly come to a complete stop, if not, slow to a tortoise crawl, due to the fact that they have decided to merge into that lane from a side street or parking lot without stopping first or even looking to see if a car might happen to be traveling down the road already. Then they proceed in front of you moving at a snail's pace! Do I sound bitter?
Pet peeves, observations, annoyances......you make the call!
More than likely you have experienced similar activities wherever you may reside because 'inconsiderate behavior' exists worldwide. For some reason, however, a blatant unconscious decision of the rights of others has always been a bone of contention for me. It doesn't matter if it's ignoring certain laws, talking over one another in a conversation, disrespecting the opinion of others or the act of not allowing everyone the right to live his or her life in the manner they wish to.... We are all human and deserve respect, courtesy and understanding.
I've been working very hard on improving my attitude toward the above unconscious drivers especially when considering negativity gives birth to possible road rage. And, if my supposition above is an honest one, these drivers are human and deserve my respect, courtesy and understanding, as well. Oh, I'm trying. I really, truly am.
Okay, so now I am practically hugging the coffee pot itself as I pour my next cup. Another misfortune of existing in a warm climate, I'm afraid: When the mercury goes south, so do our spirits. A bit evident by my shared thoughts this morning. Ouch!!
And, I have yet to mention my second observation regarding living in Florida. Here goes.... Nothing ever really dies! I wholeheartedly believe this phenomenon to be truthful and accurate, at least according to my personal experience with local flora whether it be indoors or out-of-doors, existing in a pot or residing in the ground.
Not having been born with a green thumb, (apparently, only blue fingers this morning!), many once green, healthy and thriving plants have succumbed to.....okay, croaked, bought the farm, gave-up the ghost or kicked the bucket because of me in the past seventeen years. Or, so I thought, until conditions begin to agree with the poor, shriveled and brown friend I left semi-forgotten within a glazed blue pot. Unbelievably, succulent new green shoots begin pushing their way towards the light and multiplying. Plucking the dead leaves away from this new life, I realize this plant has survived to see another season in my care.....whether it wants to or not. Sincere apologies to the delicate plantings left naked to the elements throughout this cold night. If my ideas are correct, however, there is hope!
Along the lines of the 1985 science fiction film, Cocoon, directed by Ron Howard, perhaps dismissing the alien intervention part, my imagination has often applied itself to this hypothesis, "Nothing living in Florida ever dies." My plants, more or less, prove this to be true. And, given the fact that according to the publication of Active Retirement Living, an average of one thousand people move to our normally sun-filled state each day with a majority moving into Florida retirement communities. Are we to assume that many of them agree with my theory and just might know something more than we do? Just wondering!!
My concern and Love goes out to all of you coping with the frigid weather conditions and temperatures within your particular areas of the country! Stay warm and safe....
