The older I get the more I find myself paying to save time.

I am a weirdo and like the cold, gray, dark period of the year. Honestly I like all four of the seasons and as each one progresses you start to look forward to the season ahead of it.

Howler’s in Farmington

The recent rise of antisemitism in this country is alarming.

Now a days that must be about 7 cars.

So what is stopping you?

I remember when I first moved to Florida I count believe how almost everything seemed to be a chain restaurant. Plaza after plaza of generic crappy fast food places and Cheesecake Factory type restaurants. There were so many chains I had never even heard of that were on every other corner down in Tampa.

The CT bashers that have lived here their whole lives and never left are the most annoying people. They are always astonished that I didn't like it down there and take it as some personal offense on behalf of a place they've only vacationed. People who have never lived in Florida base they opinion on it from going to Miami Beach or Disney. I mean if I didn't have to wake up and go to work every day in some specific place I bet I would love it too.

Born and raised here and moved to Florida at 19 to go to school and just to do something different. The first year or two I liked it down there and had fun and enjoyed the weather but after that I started to get homesick. I missed the seasons, I missed not having to deal with unbearable heat, I missed having conversations about places I knew, and mostly I missed the people.

When I say the people I mean the way people are up here. Not necessarily rude but more that people up here keep to themselves but are nice/friendly enough if you approach them. Florida is different. You get lots of people from all over the country that can't wait to tell you their life story and where they're from and sometimes it just gets exhausting. They also don't seem to understand personal space down there as everyone needs to wait in line 6 inches behind you or be way too close when having a conversation.

I ended top meeting my now wife who is a native Floridian so I got stuck there for a while, about 9 years total. The last half of those 9 years I was miserable down there and couldn't wait to move. It took some convincing but my wife finally agreed to make the move up to Connecticut and she loves it here. We started off renting for a year in middletown to let her get a feel for CT and to be close to everything and it seemed to help the transition. After about 9 months we settled down and bought a house and now have a two year old.

The lack of family and the unbelievably poor school system down in Florida was a big factor in her agreeing to move and I am glad we got out when we did with everything going on down there. All in all I think CT is a great place to live. Yes, it is expensive, but you get what you pay for. The school systems are great, the political situation is more in line with us, and for me I just fit in better with the people up here.