Have you ever had a place creep into your heart and take root there—slowly, unnoticed, with tiny creeping tendrils, small enough to weasel their way into every crevice? So deep, so entwined, that you don’t even realize it has become a permanent part of you—of your identity…

It was a three-hour drive from Fort Myers to Miami. About an hour and a half in, my husband and I found ourselves in that universal situation married couples know well: two people trapped in a car just a little too long. We needed a break—from the road, and maybe a little from each other.

Then, like a small miracle, a rest area appeared right in the middle of the Florida Everglades….

It was late December, the sun beating down on me, and my pale skin and light eyes were proof that, for once, I was the invasive species. Or at least, that’s how it felt.

It was my first Christmas with my husband’s family, and I was the resident blanquita. He’s Cuban—as is the rest of his family—and I am, by contrast, old-fashioned, homebrewed Flo-Grown. Needless to say, my white ass stood in stark contrast to the tanned and toned beaches of Miami….

It was January when my husband and I moved into our new home in Fort Myers, Florida. We were freshly married—two people starting a life together in a place that was brand new to both of us.

After years of long distance—a common plight for early-career wildlife biologists—it was strange finally being in the same place again. We knew we were two pieces that fit together perfectly. We were just trying to find the rhythm of daily life together again….

It was a fair, sunny day in Fort Myers, Florida when I made this painting. We decided to spend the afternoon at Bunche Beach, just a fifteen-minute drive from our place. Bunche isn’t like many of the other coastal beaches—less tourist-lined, a little unkempt and wild. Mangroves dapple the shoreline, and at low tide you can walk quite a ways out across the flats…

I was 24 when I decided to pick my life up and move it across state lines. It wasn’t so far—south Florida to north Georgia—but it felt far enough. I learned pretty quickly that once you’re more than a day’s drive away from home, far is far. New places, new people, a new job—and an added bonus: a whole new suite of species to learn. It felt like I was starting all over again….