Patience is a virtue
To the editor:
Greetings from a snow bird, well, not a true snow bird. Family, work and finances limit our time coming here to 2 to 4 weeks a year. But, we consider it our second home. We get that “Ah, relaxing, I am home” feeling one gets after being gone any period of time. My wife and I have been coming to FMB each winter for over 10 years now. We enjoy everything the area has to offer. Especially the people we cross paths with. Friendly, helpful, non-stressed attitude is the rule and it makes it easy for us to fall right in with the same attitudes.
Maybe that is why we like coming here each year. Hopefully as work eases off, family will be able to travel more and finances willing, we will be here for more lengthy stays. That’s the plan at least. The one thing that strikes me more than anything is the patience that everyone here has. We come during the spring break season so you all know how the traffic gets. We try to contribute to the problem as little as possible, but sometimes you need to be somewhere.
In Minnesota, we say we have two seasons: winter and road construction. We get six months of each per year. If the roads aren’t in bad condition due to ice or snow, you are dealing with detours as the highway crews work to get the needed repairs done before things freeze up again. What I find amazing is that in this part of the country, work can be done on the roads all year long, but yet it seems that your road projects take three times longer that they should. Of course I am referring to the road work on Estero. We can’t remember when it first started and from last year to this visit, they have only completed a fourth of a mile or so. I know there are rain days, heat days that slow or restrict work, as well as the additional infrastructure work they are doing before laying the new surface, but it makes us wonder how long they can drag the project out. So, we patiently wait when we have to drive somewhere during the backups, not really caring as it’s sunny and in the 80s versus snowing and in the teens. We are going to start a pool with some friends on how much further the work is by this time next year. Now that is patience.
Rick Anderson
Fort Myers Beach