Searching for a home with my family and taking my soul with me.
My family and I are ready to move on to the next chapter in our lives.
I have lived in Central Florida for 26 years now, out of 30. The city we are living in now is boring, and there isn’t much to do. There are two playgrounds, and both are broken, and my kids don’t like going to them. What we mainly do is walk around a lake and explore outside. Sometimes we go to stores to get toys, or we get food somewhere.
My wife and I are now looking for a new town or city. I have done countless hours of research for two years now, and I have explored many cities in Florida and different states, but I can’t find one I enjoy enough to visit.
Then I thought to myself, what about Celebration, Florida?
I remember the last time we were there, I was walking around with my family, and I looked at my wife and said, “You know, all these years coming here, I never thought we could live here because it is so planned and manufactured, but now I can see us with our kids here having fun and growing together.”
This is a town created by Disney years ago, and my wife’s family was one of the first families to live there in a home, and they have their family name in the town center on a brick.
My wife and I have visited this place since we were in high school. Even with our kids, we would visit once a month for their farmers market on Sundays, and we would take them to the splash pad and buy fresh strawberries from Plant City, Florida.
My wife and I even went to Celebration before prom, and I took her to an Italian restaurant there.
On a Friday when I didn’t have work, we went over to check out a beautiful apartment, and my three-year-old said, “I want to live here,” and my one-year-old was running around happy while we were taking a tour.
After the tour, we saw a hill with a slide on it. We all climbed up this small hill and went down the slide together, and at one point my wife and two kids went down together.
They ate their lunch, and we ate ours, and then we headed over to the town center for the splash pad area. My kids were having a blast.
I saw an older man looking at me, and I looked at him, and he said, “You look like a Tony.”
I said, “Yes, I am. Well, my name is Anthony, and my father’s middle name is Anthony, and I also named my son—well, his middle name is Anthony.”
He looked surprised and started laughing, and he shook my hand and said that his middle name is Anthony.
I asked what his first name was, and he said, “Vincent.”
My mouth was wide open in disbelief.
I said, “That is my son’s first name!”
He looked at me, amazed.
His name and my son’s name were Vincent Anthony.
We started talking, and he said that I looked Italian and that he was Italian on both sides of his family and that he loves to sing songs.
I asked him what songs he liked to sing and told him that I play guitar and piano and make my own music.
He said music like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.
I said those are excellent music artists and that my kids love listening to Frank Sinatra and that their favorite song is “You Make Me Feel So Young” by Frank Sinatra.
He said that is a classic song.
He told me he is 85 years old and that he has children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and no one wants to name their child Vincent.
I said, “Wow, well it is an amazing name.”
He said, “I am so thankful for meeting you and your family and to know that my name lives on.”
He looked emotional, so I asked him where he is from, and he said he lived in Florida for a while, but he is originally from Connecticut.
Then he pulled out his phone and said, “I want to show you one of the songs I covered.”
I said, “Sounds great. I would love to hear it.”
A song called “Sunshine on My Shoulders” by John Denver started playing, and he was singing his heart out.
I said, “It sounds great, and your voice has a lot of soul in it.”
He looked emotional, and I could tell that he had a lot of feelings bundled up, and this song connected to how he deeply felt.
I took in the moment, listening to his cover, watching my children play in the splash pad, my wife watching them close by, and my three-year-old splashing her and getting her wet while they all laughed.
It was a sunny blue sky day, and it all humbled me.
The song ended, and my kids were tired, and we all said goodbye.
He shook my son’s hand and said It was great meeting you, and my son said, “Byeee,” in his baby voice.
As I was walking away, the lady that was with him asked me, “Do you have a YouTube channel with your music?”
I said yes, I have been making music as a hobby since I was 14 years old and uploading it to YouTube.
She said, “What is the name?”
I said, “When Stars Misguide Us.”
The man and the woman looked astonished and contemplative.
I said, “Stars have always guided us humans, when we were lost. They are supposed to guide us, but what happens when you follow a star that you trusted, and it ends up misguiding you? That feeling of trusting something and believing that it is guiding you in the right direction, but then finding out it misguided you and that it was the wrong direction—that feeling is what I create music in.”
They looked at me and said, “You are wise beyond your years, and it is great seeing a young man who is smart and wise.”
I said thank you, and my wife and I put the kids in the car and drove home.
I know this is all random, but I felt like venting about the interesting day I had with my family while looking for a new home.
Soul is where the home is.
Find yourself, fall in love, and explore life.
Stay Misguided
Social Links:
Website: Whenstarsmisguideus.com
Email: Whenstarsmisguideus@yahoo.com
Music: Spotify
YouTube Channel: Youtube
When Stars Misguide Us 
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