CALIFORNIA VS FLORIDA

 

Growing up I asked my father why he didn't choose to move our family to California rather than Florida. California looks so beautiful and appealing on TV and in the movies.

Dad was stationed there in the Monterey area during WWII before being sent off to occupied Japan. He claimed he disliked it and California is nothing like on TV or in films.

I pointed out that it's a long state that stretches way up the Pacific coast and he was only exposed to one area!

We met a man from California who said it's more like two states! The northern part is quite different from the south. My father might have felt right at home up there.

However once Dad made up his mind on anything there was absolutely no reasoning with him.

Actually there was one thing about California that did impress him. He often said the Mexican women of Spanish Castilian decent were the most beautiful he had ever seen! But quickly added he would never marry one no matter how attractive because he didn't want her relatives as part of the package.

Funny, I feel the exact same way about every man I've ever dated! With marriage you rarely get just one person. It's nearly always a package deal!

I think that's the real reason my father moved us out of Michigan and down to Florida back when I was a year old baby. Probably he was eager to get away from my mother's cuckoo fanatical Pentecostal relatives; nearly all of them fell into this category.

However there was one notable exception, gangster Basil (the Owl) Banghart who ran with the Touhy gang back during the 1920's and 30's. He was quite a prolific criminal, also my mother's cousin.

On my father's side, everyone was dead except for my grandfather and he came along with us.

Florida was a completely different state when I was growing up; more laid back with lots of tropical greenery. This changed when half the state of New York moved down bringing the same rat maze they wanted to escape with them.

I've often said we should build a wall with armed guards to keep those damn New Yorkers out! They have completely ruined Florida! Nowadays much of that lush tropical greenery is concrete; especially along the coast where I live!

I remember when California was called "The Land of Fruit & Nuts." Today WE have that title! Florida is now the weirdo state! Plus we have a tendency to keep putting sociopaths and morons in office!

As for California today, it's overcrowded plus the cost of living is more obscenely expensive than ever. So now lots of Californians are moving to Florida bringing all those same problems here just as the New Yorkers before them.  Ugh!