In Love Anwar: Preserving the Summer In Fall
Columnist GABRIELLE ANWAR points out Miamians can get away with a lot of unconventional behaviors in the name of eternal summers.
We locals are so blessed to live in a tropical climate. Here, in Coconut Grove, it’s like living in the romance of a Bahamian Island but with the convenience of a Whole Foods down the street. And an International Airport no less, to extend the fantasy further if I so choose. Now that summer travels have come to a lazy end, as the Miami Season is upon us, families convene once again, back to school routine, return to the office, the rhythm of the hum drum takes hold.
How do we invite the joy of summer, to continue into fall? Without the obvious seasonal change in South Florida we may wake up one Autumn morning and just feel blue. Not having noticed why the mundane has become, well, so mundane.
Or perhaps you’ve noticed the steady climb of inertia. Children will certainly sense your decline and they might get a case of the blues themselves. Before you know it, summertime is just a pleasant, distant memory and you’re already counting days until school is out again. But the beauty of the fall should not be lost on Miamians. The sun is more relenting and the daily rain finally comes to an end. Dining al fresco more comfortable and the balmy evenings a delight as in most northern climates indoor dining is the only option.
By the time New York is grey and dull, we are still shining on the bright side of the sun. We may miss the changing, falling leaves, but we have so much more to be thankful for. There’s a good reason why the tourists flock to Miami October to March, to bathe in the glow of the Floridian sun. To feel good. To do what we locals forget, to indulge in the sultry ambience, music and exotic cocktails. Vacation living is at our fingertips 365 days a year. There’s no use pretending that we don’t live in a global destination, a travel hotspot, a veritable Condé Nast milieu of some of the best restaurants in the country. Just because the kids are back in school does not negate the joy of living here.
Pool/beach side weekends in the secret spots only we know about, wonderfully entertains the children without a screen in sight. The lines at Salt n Straw only make the wait more worth it when those scoops of ice cream reach our parched lips. The barbeque, the perfect way to entertain any night of the week, is not restricted to holidays.
We are bourgeois beach bums, all of us. No need to retire your bikini on Labor Day, why you can sport your swim suit on Thanksgiving if you like. Bake a Keylime pie in your flipflops and toast the sun! You can wear white all year in Miami, think of your holiday wardrobe and extend it through spring.
We can get away with a lot of unconventional behaviors here in the name of eternal summers. So when the fall blues find you, sink your toes into the wet sand, the Atlantic lapping warmly at your ankles. Gaze into the wide blue yonder and remind yourself where you are.
Born in Berkshire, England, attending the Italia Conti Performing Arts Academy in London, the accomplished Gabrielle Anwar has over 45 film and television performances to her credit in both Europe and the States, including her breakout film Scent of a Woman, where she was whisked off her feet into an acclaimed tango with Al Pacino.
Anwar has taken on the roles of a vast array of characters: from the blind diving horse circus performer in Disney’s biopic Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken to the risqué royal in Showtime’s The Tudors, to the supercilious counterpart to Noah Wyle in TNT’s The Librarian II. And from the fatal object of desire in Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead to the regal Queen Anne in The Three Musketeers. She has also shown her versatility as an expat party girl in BBC’s adaptation of Mortimer’s Summer’s Lease, Gun toting Fiona on the hit show Burn Notice and Wicked Lady Tremaine in ABC’s Once Upon A Time.
On the board of Pikler USA, Anwar speaks frequently on early childhood care and its direct relation to mental health, most recently to congress in Washington D.C. Active in funding and bringing awareness to the life-changing work with the firm belief that educating parents and care-givers on infant interaction prevents future developmental issues, addictions, violence and general teen-adult malaise.
On the board of Young Musicians Unite as Vice Chairman and Gala Chair. YMU affords all strokes of Miami’s socio-economic children the opportunity to be educated in the joy of music.
Supporting an array of animal and childcare charities, Anwar continues to host the southern Florida Make A Wish Ball for her twelfth consecutive year, raising more than $25,000,000 in wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses.
Gabrielle and husband, Shareef Malnik are recently empty nesting with their animal menagerie. Anwar continues her lifelong passion for the written word with her first novel and pilot in development.
Anwar’s directorial debut, Sexology is available on iTunes.
