@rambo @missy
I REALLY had planned on moving down to Florida. My in-laws are ALL down there and I LOVE the water. I thought SUMMER was my season. And then I realized... I hate sweating!
So what's a guy to do? I'm from Minnesota so I can't go back to the cold! "Winter IS coming!"
When I close my eyes, I can hear leaves rustling under foot. Birds chirping one last song. I breathe a sigh of relief knowing I won't be paranoid about being eaten by mosquitoes... When I open my eyes I'm 15 and at a cabin in Northern Minnesota. Lakeside, the water is STILL warm and the frost hasn't quite hit yet but the leaves are a BRILLIANT orange and yellow and red. Wanting my own time, I found my way to the pool hall... an unused building that was probably meant to give visitors something to do. I can smell the fire and feel the warmth on my skin as I explore this forgotten hut.
Feeling the snow in the air... I know this is my LAST warm day. As the sun falls, I breathe deep; my lungs burn and my heart beats wildly. Unbeknownst to me this is the LAST night of my childhood.
The day was October 6th, 2000. Soon after returning to the pool hall I discovered my first romance novel and lavished EACH page... I think it overall took me 15 minutes to read from front to back but my mind was forever changed! I will also never forget the date because that's the night the first episode of CSI Las Vegas aired. And I watched between failing to point colored balls into corner pockets as my mind raced into adulthood...