Tuesday - Day 205 - Little Long Island

I believe half of Long Island is migrating to Port Orange, Florida.  On the youth soccer field, at Sweet Frogs yogurt shop, at our future home being constructed, once while looking at a home to purchase, I have met New Yorkers everywhere.  The ironic piece is they are ALL from Long Island.

Is this just a coincidence?  Am I more in tune because I grew up on Long Island or are there actually more transplants from the Island I once called home?

I see it as the best of both worlds for me, I enjoy better beaches, constant sun and I can also share it with people who I instantly understand and relate to.  

Only a true Longer Islander knows what it's like to grow up on Long Island.

Long Island Fun Facts

Each time I meet a Long islander I feel as if I am speaking with a family member or old friend.  I instantly feel a commonality and connect with them.  

I personally do not stand out as a New Yorker, after living outside of New York for so long, (almost twelve years).  I don't sound or act "New York", but maybe in a heated debate I do.  However, the Long Islanders I meet are one hundred percent all New York, from their accents to their mannerisms to their strong, "I don't care what you think attitude."  I love every bit of it. 

I would bet this is how Little Italy in New York City started or Chinatown or any of the other strong ethnic communities in any area.  A few people relocate, they tell their friends and family how wonderful life is, maybe they visit, they too decide they to love the area and before you know it, more and more people follow.  An entire new community from one particular area has migrated and reestablished themselves.

Maybe I discovered Little Long Island in my Floridian neighborhood.  Maybe, I too, will run into my own family while running errands one day.  How ideal to lift them all from one Island to another in search of a new way of life, a fresh start.  It would be the best of all worlds, living on Little Long Island.

From Port Washington, Long Island.....

.....To Port Orange, Florida