South Beach Mom in South Beach

  There are only 12 school days left and the next two weeks include a 1st grade literary brunch, two power point presentations, the arts program showcase, an art show, my son's "7" birthday, a memorial weekend get away and a vacation the following week.

I decided to set everything aside and take a day just for "me".  I will have two companions at home for the summer and lots of activities and running around for the three of us. I decided to spend the day in South Beach.  Walking around old neighborhoods, lost in my thoughts and snapping photos.

I went back to my grade school.  It is exactly as it was when I was a student except that gates have been put in the doorways which used to be completely open and planters have been placed in the street behind the school building to keep traffic out.  They have also added playground equipment in the driveway area between the school and the monastery.  As I walked around, so many memories came back.  I saw visions of myself and my friends running around and playing, crossing the street to go to the gym.  I heard the children's voices as they played during recess.  As I watched them, I couldn't stop wandering what it would be like  had we never moved from miami beach and raised our kids in the same neighborhoods we grew up in. I imagined my kids going to school here and wondered about how different life would be today.

I went to the apartment building where I grew up. I walked through Espanola Way and remembered walking around with my mother when I was my daughter's age.  I went into the St. Moritz hotel where my father worked.  Each summer growing up, my mother and I walked to the beach next to the St. Moritz every day.  The front desk window where he worked is still there.