“We travel not to escape life; but for life not to escape us.“

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Rebekah and I are back in the Sunshine State for a brief visit, driving down for our niece Jordan’s wedding and checking out the new Campbell home outside of Orlando (Naomi, Craig and the three children).

The journey down proved to be one more example of why I-95 is my least favorite road to travel. Construction, not enough lanes, congestion, heavy heavy rain. As per usual our predicted 10-hour trek turned into almost 14.

But here we are. And so very wonderful to see David and Beks and Geoffrey, along with Naomi and Craig.

Orlando Sprawl:

Orlando is still growing like crazy along with being ridiculously busy – increasingly so. The traffic is beyond unreasonable even though roads are being constructed, and widened, and rebuilt on a massive scale every day.

Naomi and Craig’s new home is not that far from Celebration, near to Disney, and situated in an area that is just now opening up to development. The neighborhood has parks and trails in addition to an extensive conservation area, and is filling up with lovely homes. The house itself is roomy and really well designed.

Best, of course, is the chance to visit with the children, and having our almost four-year-old youngest grandchild, Geoffrey, to ourselves Friday morning for a few hours.

It is always interesting, now more than eleven years since we left, to come back to this area and feel a slight tug at our heartstrings. But Central Florida is – and I can’t believe I am old enough to be saying this now – not anywhere near the same place it was when I first moved here to DeLand in 1976. The landscape is pretty much unrecognizable – and even more so from the pre-Disney era when Rebekah first arrived in 1966.

More than anything I think it is the skies that still speak to me. But neither one of us have any desire to live here again; we enjoy the seasons too much. Plus the beautiful fact that North Carolina is, quite simply, our home.

Today is our niece Jordan’s wedding. Stay tuned for stories and pictures.

Meanwhile, I will be enjoying another walk around the neighborhood with Geoffrey; you know he’s not going to be three much longer – DEREK