I spent this Thanksgiving holiday with some family in Jacksonville, Florida. My parents came up from Palm Beach county and my brother and I left Gainesville, FL (where I had been all week for some ISI business) to join my cousin, her husband and 3 kids, as well as an aunt and an uncle, for some good food, football, and conversation.
This week, it has been great to reunite with family and with my home state of Florida. Although I won’t be making it down to “South Florida” where I grew up, I continue to appreciate all the diversity that my home state of Florida has to offer. Jacksonville, Gainesville, and Tallahassee have been my home these past 10 days. These are three distinct cities in Florida that are truly part of “the south.”
On Thanksgiving Day, my day was made when both of my Miami football teams. the Dolphins and Hurricanes, won. Sure, they are both having rocky season (although watch out for those ‘Fins, they might just surprise us all), but it was great to see them both win on Thanksgiving. I topped off a week of sports with a trip to the state capital of Tallahassee to see the Gators beat the Seminoles in FSU’s Doak Campbell Stadium. While my brother was reporting for The Independent Florida Alligator, I was able to pluck a ticket off another fan for just $30 and get inside and enjoy the game.
I am in Tallahassee to meet with some students at FSU and hold a “Get to Know ISI” soiree at FSU on Monday night. But it was nice to utilize some of my time in Florida to get together with family over Thanksgiving and enjoy the warmth of the Sunshine State – not to mention some live Gator football and basketball. (oh yea, did I mention I got a free ticket at UF to see #1 Florida defeat Praire View A&M last Tuesday night?)