God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy

After five weeks of living here, the other day I suddenly realized that I feel settled in. I only mention it because I've never been away from home for this long and it's a good feeling to know that I can do it. Given, I'm living with family, but still- I have a small sense of accomplishment about this semi-independence!

So much has happened lately and I don't know how much of it is interesting to you, but so it goes! This journal is for you, but it's for me too. Unfortunately I have a poor memory, so hopefully writing will help preserve these memories.

Two weeks ago while my aunt, uncle, and cousins were at the Grand Canyon (where they saw Kathryn!), my cousin Julie and my grandmother came to stay with me. We went to the Museum of Science which had a planetarium, which I had never seen before. It was cool- they played a video on a dome screen about the stars and the universe with lots of pictures from the Hubble telescope. Ever since I took Astronomy during freshmen year, I have loved learning about space! And I no longer believe in gravity. Neither did Einstein (on a large scale). It's called space-time, friends! Anyway, we had a nice time and I so loved their company. We played cards and dominos at night after dinner. We have a set of cards that was my great-grandfather's! I just love card games, so my grandmother said I could have those cards.

Then last weekend, Bobby came to visit! On top of some drama about his flight times (he bought the ticket thinking it left ATL at 10am, only to discover the day before he leaves that the ticket says 10pm!), we could NOT find each other at the Miami airport. We were on the phone describing to the other everything around us. At one point I said "I am at terminal H." And he goes "that's impossible, I JUST walked all the way through there and didn't see you!" 30 minutes of circular conversation later, we find out that he is upstairs and I am downstairs. Oh man, what a day. But we had a fabulous weekend once we found each other! We went to South Beach for half a day. Actually, we are pretty sure it was a gay friendly beach. There were an unusual number of gay couples and there were rainbow flags marking off our area. But you know us, we didn't mind. It was a gorgeous day and the water is so clear- a beautiful turquoise.

The next day we went to the Miami Zoo where I got to PET GIRAFFES!! It was possibly the best moment of my life so far. Look at my Facebook pictures. There is an area at the Miami Zoo where you can feed them and they stick their heads right down to you and take lettuce from you with their looong black tongues! In fact, while Bobby was taking my picture, one accidentally bonked heads with me. Oh gosh, it hurt. But it was so funny! On the way to that exhibit, Bobby had told me that we were out of the "Africa" part of the zoo (it was divided by land areas) and since we hadn't seen them yet, he didn't think they had giraffes. Of course I believed him and was heartbroken. Giraffes are my favorite creatures- and Lord knows I love all his creatures! Haha, Bobby knows he can trick me, but it was all in good fun.

After we went to dinner that night, a man on the street asked us if we had left over food. We did, and gladly gave it to him. We stopped for a minute to catch his name, but continued on our way. Bobby mentioned that he really should have prayed for Rodger, so I told him to go on back while I went ahead to the car. He ended up getting into a really great conversation with Rodger and his friend J.D. about their lives and about things of the Lord. The two friends live on a boat in a Miami harbor and come into the city to socialize and (I assume) eat, make money, etc. At three different points in his life Rodger has been a millionaire, but in one way or another he has lost it all. I just love the mix of people here in Miami- from celebrities and models to blue-collared workers to beach "hippies," for lack of a better term. Also it is such a mosaic of cultures from all over the world! Yes, Latinos, as many people associate with Miami, but also French, Italians, Lebanese, etc.! It's fascinating and enlightening to associate with so many different types of people with their own cultures, ways of thinking, religion, food, customs. It makes me think about how big and how diverse the world is- and how, perhaps, the best thing humans can do for one another is to learn to love one another right where we are. Not label, not make assumptions, not count you out because you don't look or talk or live like me, but learn from each other's experiences and gosh, just give each other respect. Stepping off the soapbox for now...

My aunt, little cousin Raegan, grandmother, and I toured Vizcaya today. James Deering, the owner of a farm equipment manufacturing company, built the Vizcaya estate in 1916 as his winter home. It was unbelievable- room after room of ornate furniture, art, and artifacts from his life there. The home has at least 5 guest rooms, a breakfast room, a music room with a baby grand piano and a harp, a sitting room, and so many others. Everything is extremely intricate- from the fireplaces to the stained glass windows to the detailed ceilings. It sits right on the ocean and has 10 acres of gardens!

I have so enjoyed getting to be a part of my Florida family's life by living here. Sometimes I think it's hard for my family to feel really connected with all our cousins and aunts and uncles because we are the only ones that live in Georgia. But, it seems part of God's plan for me this summer is to act as a bridge for my family. The Lord is good in so many ways. In every way, actually :)

Lessons I have learned so far about life in Miami...

1. If you say "y'all," people will gawk at you like you've just come from a road-kill barbeque.

2. If you wear a UGA shirt while running errands, other customers will cut in line ahead of you.  Then when you finally get to the register, the employee will mutter "one second" and go do chores around the store, only returning when you've waited a good long while.  I wish this was a joke, but it's not!

3. There are dozens of types of palm trees, including old man, petticoat, stone, fishtail... need I go on?  (I bet a UF grad gave them those fabulously creative names.  Haha!)