Driving in South Florida

Alright, here is the deal. We have been living in South Florida for 3 months now, but I can tell you that it only took me about 3 hours of living here to realize that driving down here was going to be a much different experience than driving in my small hometown of Indian Trail, NC. No matter what time of day you go out, there is ALWAYS traffic. And people in traffic are not nice. There are no, polite, "Excuse me, ma'am, but did you see the light turn green?" honks. The occasional, "Oops, I forgot to get over and now my lane is ending, could you please let me in--sweet southern smile" gets you absolutely nothing. Getting behind the wheel down here has been frightening for me at times. Especially when I accidentally got in the speedpass only lane on the freeway, during rush hour mind you, with no speedpass and no money. That was not fun. I still have anger issues towards the man behind me that day.

Anyways, all that to say that while I am slowly adjusting to driving in South Florida, Chris has been quite the opposite. He quickly developed a love for being on the road down here. I think it fulfills some innate manhood issues--like hunting or rock climbing. Our friends in Indian Trail would no longer recognize him when he is behind the wheel. No more mister nice guy. He has thrown caution and patience to the wind. Just the other day, I made a small bet with him that in less than 1 month, he would either get in a wreck or get a ticket because of this new found sense of roadway adventure. I spoke this in the most loving way; and he, of course, lovingly disagreed :). I am not kidding, it was not five minutes after this conversation that we were backing into a parking space at Chik-fil-a when the reverse alarm(you know- the one that lights up and dings to warn you that you are about to hit something) starts dinging. Chris sharply says, "That stupid alarm- don't ever pay attention to it- it dings way too premat---THUD!!!--- We nailed the curb! As we sat there with the back half of our car on the sidewalk, I lovingly put my arm around my husband and said, "Yes, babe, you're right; that alarm always dings prematurely."

Oh, and in case you are wondering, I won the bet-- which meant I thoroughly enjoyed hiring someone to clean my house the next day!!!