Florida

After working at Colony Liqour for about two years as a teamster it was 1997, I was making good money working on the night shift and getting plenty of action working on the side with my buddy Sal. But, I was heading down a path I wasn't very proud of. One day I was sitting at the break table with a guy named Dennis he was a lifer at the wharehouse and a I asked him how long you been sitting in that same chair looking at these walls. He said forty years. It was then that I knew I needed a change. We had a two week vacation coming up and Jason had just moved to a place called Punta Gorda Fla. So I called him and asked if I could visit him for a few weeks. He accepted me with open arms as we are best pals. It was winter time here in Florida at the time but the weather was beautiful. I decided to rent a car and got a convertible Camaro and boy was I having a good time. Jason was working so I had to entertain myself so I was off exploring the surrounding towns. I connected with a girl I knew in high school and she lived on the other coast in Boca Raton. She invited me to come visit her so I hoped in the Camaro and started off across the alligator alley. That is stretch of the 75 interstate that goes through the Everglades of Florida and it is a strait shot across the state and the traffic goes fast real fast. I was having a good time getting there with the top down and the sun shinning down on me. I had the tunes blasting and the song "one headlight " came on by the wallflowers. And I knew right then my days of living in NY where over. I was moving to Florida. I asked Jason when I returned if I could bunk with him for awhile and he agreed and that was it. I went home and about six months later after saving some money I packed my truck and moved to Punta Gorda Fla. I needed out of NY I was doing things I was ashamed of and people knew about me being bipolar as least that's what we thought I was then, and I hated that label. So it was time to go. Plus my parents were just getting through with a divorce and I had enough of all of the bullshit going on. Once I got to Florida finding work wasn't that hard there were lot's of jobs for a young guy willing to work, I bounced around for a few months till I settled in at a place called Grant Pools. It was hard work and aggressive work construction work and I picked it up pretty quick and became a part of a team building pools. I made a promise to myself when I got to Florida. I would never strike another man in anger again. I just wanted some peace. Well, keeping that promise proved to be very difficult but I dam sure tried.

It didn't take long I started making friends in Florida and started dating some girls. Soon my life was gonna change in a big way but that's a different story.