starfish

Our recent trip to Florida was amazing!!!!  It is funny to me how much I forget Florida feels like home.  Flying in, I felt like I was back in my home town, which is weird because I only lived there for five or six years when I was little and another year after I was married.  Maybe it's because it's the last memories of where I lived with my dad or because I've gone back to visit so much since we moved north.... who knows.  I just know it feels like home. 
Justin was remembering a trip we took to Florida a few   years ago, actually, it must have been at least 5 years ago now.  Anyway, on that trip, I took the kids to the beach and we were fortunate enough to find sea stars, or starfish as they are commonly called.  Anyway, we all were scooping them up, happily gathering handfuls in all sizes.   Not knowing what to do with them, we put them on a pizza box and let them dry........  yes, we murdered them.  After we had our fill at the beach we went back to my sisters and showed her our precious starfish, with some of them having tried crawling to the nearest water source.  It was actually quite pathetic when you think about it.  At the time, I honestly didn't even think about them dying.  I just thought they were beautiful and it wasn't until they had tried crawling away that I thought of them as actual living things.......  Anyway.  To make a long story short, my sister informed me it was against the law to catch and kill starfish.  Not to mention traveling across state lines, transporting them.   OOPS!   However, the starfish had the last laugh, because just like any living creature, they STINK when they die and especially in a hot car.   That trip home was memorable.