The Circle of Life

I had lived in Miami for almost a month when I got my job with FPL. Some of you might be asking the same question I asked, "What does FPL stand for?". That would be Florida Power and Light. Apparently it is a huge corporation and the utility for most of south Florida. JEA even gets some of their power from FPL. I didn't know this until the day of my job interview when I read the sign in the parking lot.

Thankfully I was hired despite my lack of acronym knowledge. My first day was in August of 2005. When I drove to work I would pass a series of canals. Miami is lined with them to prevent flooding. I always referred to them as "moats" as they surround the whole city. Though Miami is a far cry from any type of kingdom or castle.

During my first week of work I was stopped at a red light waiting to turn right. A flurry of motion in the canal next to me caught my eye. At first glance I see a huge white egret looking bird. My initial thought was that this bird was catching a fish. I also thought this would be an interesting event to see and later describe, so I keep watching.

Upon closer inspection I see that the bird isn't eating a fish at all. The bird was being eaten by an alligator! Now this was weird! I mean for some reason I found it all good and well that I bird would be eating a fish. To see an alligator eating a bird was just grotesque. I couldn't help but watch! I sat there until the people behind me were honking at me to turn. Couldn't they see the horrific massacre that was happening right beside us?!?

The first thing I had to do was TELL someone what I had just seen. Since this is my first week at work the only person I knew was my boss. Apparently, this isn't something that is seen every day in Miami. He's lived there his whole life and never had seen an alligator in the canals much less eating a bird. He also thought I was rather strange since I kept going on and on about it. Once again, I had seen something that most people don't see.

So the circle of life even happens in Miami. Bird eats fish; alligator eats bird; Cuban eats alligator. What more can you ask for?