[babynurse]

My brother bought a house in TV, and kept trying to get us to come visit. There was no way I wanted to go to the retirement community for my vacation! Finally DH convinced me that we should at least visit, afterall it was my OLDER brother and I didn't know how much time the old guy had left! Needless to say, we drank the Koolaid, and on the 4th trip, we bought our own piece of paradise. And the old guy, well he keeps getting younger by the day!! We just returned home from a wonderful 10 day stay in TV, and are counting the days until we too are officially retired. Won't be long now!!

[MelZ]

We transform from NY tadpoles to FROG's in 23 days.

[Pturner]

Salpal,
I know how you feel about those comments-- and how wrong they are.

The problem with hopping down to TV whenever we can is, there are not enough hours in the day to see everyone we want and do everything we want. We're so busy that I blink and times up. Then I have to come back to... the heat, humidity, snakes and bugs in Atlanta. lol

I'll miss my friends here sure, but I can't wait till we can move to TV full time! I'm glad your time has come!

and all best wishes!

[Tweety Bird]

Here are some of the comments I keep hearing from family and friends:
- You are going to be soooo bored being retired
- Florida is sooo hot in the summer you have to stay inside most of the day
- How can you move to Florida and not be near the ocean
- Of course you'll be back in CT for Thanksgiving and Christmas (why do I want to come back for snow, sleet and freezing temps?????)
- How can you move so far away from your family??? (Grandchildren can't wait to come and visit!)

Yes, Florida IS HOT during the summer, but when I lived on the Canadian border in Minnesota, man, the winters were COLD and LOOOONG. The salts and slush were hard on my car and it always looked dirdy. So, you heat your house in MN and stay indoors OR, you AC your house here. It's just a flip. One thing though...when you do a quick jaunt outside your walls, you don't need to wear the coat, boots, heavy socks, scarf, gloves, face mask and all the layered clothing underneath. AND...I love jumping into a Village pool and guess what? I don't need to fill that big tub up with water, buy chemicals for it or worry about any maintenance. Did I have that in cold Minnesota? NO! And, when I go on my cruises, I don't need to get expensive round trip tickets and I don't need to worry about a snow storm. My long lost friends? Heh...now you've got a good place to visit, but don't stay longer than three days. If my old friends can't be positive, take a hike. hahahaha, no...I love them dearly. - Good bye cold. Good bye to shoveling, plowing and slipping on the ice.

[N'awlins Lady]

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

...drinking the koolaid......always reminds me of Jonestown.

Me too! Which is why I cringe everytime I hear the Kool Aid joke.

For the record, I did NOT drink the Kool Aid and I still want to live in TV!

Now their Vodka? Hmmmmm... ya think?

Trudy

[ljones190]

I am tired of hearing from my family and friends that I will return to New Jersey within a year of moving full time to TV. Does anyone know if this happens frequently?

[redwitch]

[QUOTE=salpal;269510]Moving to TV in 3 days and a wakeup. Saying goodbye to loved ones is difficult, but I must say, I am tired of hearing:

Better take alot of bug spray Yup, Florida has bugs. TV has little, cept for the dang love bugs. Hey, I work outside a lot and rarely get bit by anything and I rarely remember to spray. Even so, I gotta give the naysayers this one.

You are going to hate the summer I hated the summer in California -- over 100 was typical in the East Bay. I do hate the humidity and I'm not convinced I'll ever get used to it, but it is survivable. Besides, I LOVE driving my golf cart everywhere.

Florida has lots of snakes. So does California and there's a lot less risk of getting bit by a poisonous snake here as long as you stay away from the water (rattlesnakes are very common in California).

They have pythons now in Florida because during hurricanes they escape from pet stores Um, semi-right. We have pythons because pets get too big and people just dump them. Every state has that problem. The difference is that the weather is tropical enough for the pythons and boas to thrive, especially in the Everglades (so, stay out of the Everfglades if that's an issue).

After you are settled, you will be bored and miss your friends Bored, NO. Miss my friends, YES. But I've made new ones and still talk to my old ones.

You are going to be surrounded by nothing but old people, doesn't that bother you? Old is a state of mind and the state of mind here is pretty dang young.

You will not like it there, you will be back in a year It's been almost three years and I still love TV.

The one thing my friends were 100% right about is that I truly don't like Florida. I love mountains and that is in small supply (like, um, none!) in Florida. However, TV really isn't Florida -- it is a bubble in the middle of nowhere that is truly idyllic. So, a frog I be, a frog I will be and I'm willing to bet that if my friends would ever leave their bubble in Northern California and come visir here, they would understand. So will your friends once they come to visit.

BTW -- Being from the SF Area and having lost a few friends in Jonestown, I agree the phrase can be painful. I prefer to think that we all drank the water (but I do understand if you got confused and thought the water was so good that it must have been flavored with a magical Kool-Aide).

[getdul981]

I've been retired for almost 9 years now and so far I've been so busy I don't know how I had time to work. I just know I'm gonna love it in TV. As far as it being so hot in the summer, I agree it's just gonna be a trade of from staying in out of the cold or staying in out of the heat. I used to say that I could do things to keep warm when it's cold. I now know that I can't. When it's hot, I can still do things, I just have to slow down and take my time. It really is going to be nice to not have to put on all those heavy clothes every time I have to take our dogs out in the winter too.

[skip0358]

We became frogs here last Sept.We were told about the heat. My comment I don't have to shovel heat. I saw a couple of gators sunning themselves, they sun by the pond I sun at the pool. As for bugs god did we have bugs on Long Island. As for OLD people there aren't any here. Everybody is a lot more active then they were up north. I've invited a few of my old friends, I think they're afraid to come down, must have heard about the kool aid. My 21 year old niece came down to visit over spring break she had such a good time she wants to come back in July.I have no intention of moving back to NY.TV is my new home and already we've made many very good friends. In fact we share all the Holidays with our new found family in TV. To those that don't come YOU DON"T KNOW WHAT YOUR MISSING.I was told Florida was God's waiting room. If that's true all I can say is this is one hell of a waiting room.

[Shirleevee]

Originally Posted by ljones190

I am tired of hearing from my family and friends that I will return to New Jersey within a year of moving full time to TV. Does anyone know if this happens frequently?

I, for one, doubt that. I will NEVER miss the cold icy winters in NY.

[kentucky blue]

You really need to delete that phrase from your vocabulary, it makes you all seem like a herd of sheep, with no direction or mindset of your own, because you hear that phase over and over again describing TV.I know better than that, but to any outsider looking in, "drinking the kool aid" does not denote a positive image.Why would you want ANY association with Jonestown? Just a thought.

[N'awlins Lady]

Originally Posted by kentucky blue

You really need to delete that phrase from your vocabulary, it makes you all seem like a herd of sheep, with no direction or mindset of your own, because you hear that phase over and over again describing TV.I know better than that, but to any outsider looking in, "drinking the kool aid" does not denote a positive image.Why would you want ANY association with Jonestown? Just a thought.

Amen! Your post should be made into a "Sticky" note!

Trudy

[Pturner]

Originally Posted by kentucky blue

You really need to delete that phrase from your vocabulary, it makes you all seem like a herd of sheep, with no direction or mindset of your own, because you hear that phase over and over again describing TV.I know better than that, but to any outsider looking in, "drinking the kool aid" does not denote a positive image.Why would you want ANY association with Jonestown? Just a thought.

Oh come on. We're not talking Jonestown. Although adapted for Jonestown, the phrase was in use before then. It originated from an iconic Tom Wolfe novel.

Not a positive image? Geez. Some people have no sense of irony. We're making fun of ourselves, dude. If you can't make fun of yourself, who can you make fun of?

Come on over. I'll poor you a glass.

[kentucky blue]

Sorry, beg to differ, ask anybody about the phrase "drinking the kool aid" and nobody will bring up Thomas Wolfe, but they remember Jonestown.I've got a great sense of humor and have always beat to a different drummer, but any association at all to Jonestown is not funny.By the way, i find your post insightful and thought provoking, but we will have to agree to disagree on this topic. You all need to hear the opinions of people outside "the bubble" and take them as constructive criticism.

[salpal]

Did not mean to offend anyone, instead of drank the koolaid, let me just say I fell in love with TV immediately. I actually was attempting humor, but apparently I need to be more careful and politically correct.

Like others, I too hate Florida, wanted no parts of it, particularly since I do not care for the sun (I do not tan, I just burn). But beside the lovely golf courses, trees, flowers, etc. within TV and all the activities, the thing that put it over the top for me was how friendly everyone was to us. I will learn to adapt to heat and sun to be around pleasant, fun loving people.

Sold the snowblower, snow shovels and gave away several winter coats to Salvation Army. All of which felt great!!! Now I just cannot wait to live in TV, only dreading the long drive to get there with my doggie in the back seat. The Great Fumar will be thrilled, another dog in TV.