What is Florida?

I told a friend recently that I'd moved back to the south. She said, "You didn't move back to the South; you moved to Florida." I disagreed with her a little. Florida has its share of "southernness". Hey, I get to hear a southern accent on occasion, and feel amazed at strange things like steer horns glued to the top of a truck cab (really?). But what is Florida? Is it a province of Canada? I heard that there were so many Canadian retirees down here that there used to be a branch of the Canadian government pension fund in Florida. Is it a county in New York? I can't tell you how many people I run into here that are from New York. Even people that immigrate from other countries did time in New York. I was talking to a man last night who was discussing quite wistfully his youth in Guyana, and then he said, as an aside, that he lived in New York for fourteen years before he moved here. Is Florida Latin America? I read an argument that Miami should be classed as a Latin American city. Then there is the strange fact that for the Seventh-day Adventist church the Inter-American Division, which covers countries like Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico, is headquartered in Miami.

I'm not sure how Florida can be classified, but I confess, it is growing on me. It's a large, unique state, and for now I'm calling it home even if I am from California.