I grew up in Winter Haven, not terribly far from LOL. My best friend from high school married and bought a place there among the oaks and lowing cattle. On the few trips to visit her I saw precisely what you described. Too, my old citrus groves and other areas in the lake-dotted part of Lakeland and surrounds disappeared under concrete and the brittle behavior if others too damned busy to notice a slow Florida far from the beach scene.

She's still there, will die there. I moved to Oregon and two years later my own house is for sale again. This time, I am keeping a toehold since I love the beaches, but I am far more serious about moving overseas. Where I am headed, we can't argue as i don't enough of the language as yet.

I keep right on unburdening. I came to deeply dislike Florida, Roger, as much as there are pretty parts of it I will never return. But there are some gorgeous memories.