Florida

Florida is the destination of a family vacation that frames an anecdote about a roller-coaster ride, an urgent dash for a restroom, and a jacket the narrator is reluctant to discard. The account names the state but does not describe its geography; its narrative focus is the family’s day at Universal Studios and the mishap that gives the trip its significance.

Setting and Occasion

The episode takes place during an autumn family vacation in Florida in 2010. The family plans to spend the entire day at Universal Studios, having eaten breakfast at their hotel and arrived early. Florida establishes the trip’s destination, while the park is the specific setting in which the story unfolds.

The Day at Universal Studios

The narrator loves roller coasters, so the family’s first stop is Dueling Dragons. She rides it twice after eating an egg-and-spinach omelet, then finds that her stomach has not settled. When she realizes she needs a restroom urgently, she heads for the nearest one with only seconds to spare. She does not make it: about three yards from the bathroom, she vomits, using her jacket as a shield for her face.

The Jacket and the Episode’s Aftermath

After cleaning herself up in the bathroom, the narrator faces the problem of her puke-covered jacket. Though it came from a thrift store, she considers it a good jacket and does not want to waste it. She wipes it as best she can, wraps it in paper towels, puts it in a plastic bag, and carries the package in her backpack. Her husband takes the backpack while they continue around the park. Later, he insists that the jacket belongs in the trash; she gives it up, and he takes up the backpack again, now relieved of both its heavy load and its odor.

Narrative Function

Florida anchors a comic family-travel episode that turns on a small but concrete reversal: the narrator’s determination to preserve a usable possession gives way when her husband makes clear that the jacket is no longer good. The account does not make Florida itself an active force or offer a portrait of the state. Instead, the vacation setting places an ordinary family day around a public mishap, while the jacket’s eventual disposal makes the episode an example of letting go of something that has become a burden.