Leaving Orlando

I loved living in the warmth of the sunshine state, and I loved our friends there; but Florida has snakes and roaches and crazy expensive air conditioning bills (notice I did not even mention gators. I only saw one ONCE outside of Gator land and it was a tiny baby--totally disappointing). While there is definitely diversity in Orlando, I think I'm just more of a west coast girl at heart. So my meltdown just days before the move came as a bit of a surprise to me.

As I wrapped our kitchen glasses in newspaper and placed them in a box I was suddenly overwhelmed by the realization that this was our home. This was the first place Brad and I were known as "The Cottles". We established OUR life in Orlando. It was just the two of us. And we created our own extended family that saw us through all of life's ups and downs, and picked us up when it seemed we couldn't keep going.

There were hard days in Orlando, but as Brad and I talked post-meltdown in our half-packed house we realized it was because it was hard that we loved it so much. We had to fight for this life we were creating for ourselves, and that made everything good so much better. We had to start from scratch and it made every beautiful relationship so much more rewarding and endearing.

So, Orlando... we love you. We miss you. And we hope to see you again very soon.