Florida weekend

It was so strange to fly into Tampa, get into my parent's car and then head in the opposite direction of my Aunt Sherry's house, or what used to be her house. Since I was a kid, we made trips to Florida at least once a year to visit my aunt. My parent's would whine the whole way home about how they didn't want to go back to Michigan, to the cold, to the dull, gray skies. They'd dream about how someday, one day, they would pack up and leave like my aunt had. Someday they could wear Hawaiian shirts every day. Someday they could throw out every shovel, sweater and winter coat they owned. Someday is now. And since my aunt relocated to Dallas a few months ago for her job, my parents are now my primary Florida relatives. I spent a long weekend with them there starting Thursday night. My mom and brother have been there for a while now, and my dad makes frequent trips from Michigan while he handles business with our house and his store. They've been renting a beach house, which is more technically a beach shack. It's a small place just five minutes from the gulf in an area that I can only describe as Key Westy. Next store is a three-story beach mansion with a widow's walk on top. Behind them is a less impressive shack with a dog, a cat, and a potbelly pig who sunbathe on the lawn. Old, leather-skinned men walk around shirtless and barefoot with fishing poles in hand. The music from two beach bars, not a quarter mile away, can be heard at night. Staying there is really an authentic Florida experience. Every morning we walked on the beach before opening the store. And on Friday, I sat with my parents as they signed the mile-high stack of closing papers on their new house, a three-bedroom ranch a little farther north in the city of Gulfport. I kind of laughed as the woman at the title office read off the date of their last mortgage payment -- 2037. I'll be 53. Add 30 more years (31 for my dad) to calculate my parent's age. But there's a built-in pool, a garage my brother says has "potential" and the promise of warm and sunny days for years to come. I know they'll be happy.