Our Florida Story
The concept of Florida Unfiltered began more than 25 years ago when we first dreamed about making Florida our home.
It was the summer of 1996 when we hopped on a plane for our first visit, and a 4 day stay at Walt Disney World. The flight itself was a bit unnerving for me, but when we touched down, I instantly fell in love with the palm trees and the concept of a perpetual summer.
Hubby’s parents had already established Florida as their home, and desperately missed their grandchildren. Their hopes of enticing us to Florida by gifting us with a family vacation didn’t take much convincing on our part. It would just take some time.
Hubby and I spent several years planning and setting ourselves up to make Florida our home after that first trip, and in 2001, we finally made the move. After selling our NJ home we packed up the kids, the cat, and all our belongings and headed southbound. We had no jobs lined up, but we had a little money in our pocket and a family member who needed some help. It was a win for all of us. Hubby and I had the experience of home ownership, and his brother had a safe place for us to stay. We helped in the remodeling of his home, and he provided a roof over our heads while we began to establish our new lives.
Our years in Florida have taught us so many valuable lessons. We’ve suffered through multiple hurricanes, learned about the ins and outs of Florida construction, completely remodeled two homes, discovered new things to enjoy, things to avoid, and a developed a deep appreciation for the amazing world around us.
We’ve watched our children grow and graduate college, watched our eldest establish a successful career in the army and become an amazing mom, and watched our youngest establish a successful career in IT.
As the years passed, there’s been several sad farewells for loved ones and cherished friends, along with a couple of heartbreaking moments, as two of our beloved pets crossed over the rainbow bridge.
It’s been quite an interesting and exciting journey, and despite the many ups and downs, we absolutely love our South Florida Life. If there was anything we could change, it would be that we could talk to our former selves and tell them what we know now.
That, my friends, is what inspired us to create this site. Whether you’re thinking about making a move to Florida, recently moved and trying to get the lay of the land, or have been here for a while and stumbled across our site, we hope that our unfiltered experiences will help you as you venture on your own journey in this little place we call paradise.