Road Less Traveled

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Southshore Story Time

The Circus Town

Part Two

Al and Jeanie Tomaini weren’t just the most famous residents of Gibsonton, they were its foundation.

Al, once billed as the World’s Tallest Man, stood over 8 feet tall. Jeanie, the Half-Girl, barely reached his hip. They met in a sideshow and married in secret. When they left the road, it wasn’t to vanish. It was to build.

Al constructed homes, roads, and a community that welcomed the unwanted. Jeanie opened a fishing camp and served coffee to snake charmers and strongmen who just wanted to be left alone. Together, they turned a stretch of Florida swampland into something sacred for those who never had a place to call their own.

But even among the performers, Al and Jeanie were something… different.

They followed old traditions, ones they never spoke of publicly. Every year, on the same night, they lit a fire behind the camp and left out offerings—salt, tobacco, a gold coin. “For the ones who kept us safe,” Jeanie once said. No one asked what she meant.

Even after they passed, residents claimed to see a lantern flickering by the old dock on the same night. Some swore the flame hovered off the ground. Others said they heard singing, low, rhythmic, like the warmup hum of a crowd.

And then, one year, it stopped.

The night the flame didn’t appear, a cold snap hit Florida out of season. Boats broke loose from their moorings. Three power poles fell, just in Gibsonton. The town held its breath.

Someone relit the lantern the following year.
No one ever admitted who.

Featured Story

The Road Less Traveled

Health is a topic we all have in common. Whether it’s our own or that of a loved one, it’s never far from our minds. It’s personal, it’s political, it’s divisive—but no one can argue its importance.

In today’s age of “we have a pill for that,” finding a trusted health professional seems to have gone out the window. We’ve become a society that doesn’t cure problems—we treat symptoms.

Can’t sleep? Here’s a pill.
Can’t focus? Here’s another pill.
Can’t lose weight? Yep, there’s a pill for that too.

Meanwhile, the underlying issues go overlooked and unresolved—because treating symptoms creates customers. And customers create revenue.

But here at The Circle, we’ve found at least one healthcare professional who still actually cares.

A profession made personal.

Carine began her medical career with the idea that she could help others while doing something she loved. She wanted to empower individuals to take control of their health and live their most vibrant lives. But the industrial medical complex quickly rained on that parade. She got a front-row seat to how medicine was actually “practiced”: a conveyor belt of patients being prescribed pills with little to no investigation of their real issues. The goal wasn’t to cure—it was to process. Get them in, get them prescribed, get to the next patient.

This wasn’t what Carine had in mind. This wasn’t health. This wasn’t helping.

After becoming a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner in 2019, Carine found herself in the middle of a global pandemic. We all remember how we felt: scared, confused, stressed, uncertain. But COVID wasn’t just a physical health crisis—it was a national mental health crisis too. And Carine wasn’t immune.

She was juggling her own fears, caring for her patients, facing personal health challenges, and navigating a new autism diagnosis for her oldest son. That trifecta would knock anyone off their feet. But for Carine, it was the push she needed to take back control of her future.

Exhausted but determined, the idea for Wellness Vitalized was born.

Carine shifted her focus to understanding the why behind health issues. After researching ways to heal her own hormone imbalances and care for her family naturally, she knew she had to share what she’d learned. And now, her clients rave about how her approach has changed their lives.

From real and lasting weight-loss solutions to hormone replacement therapy and everything in between, Carine is one of the few practitioners whose goal is not to see you back in her office—unless it’s just to say, “I feel amazing!”

Wellness Vitalized focuses on the whole person. Carine believes true wellness means identifying the root cause and creating sustainable, life-improving change. Her results aren’t medicine—they’re a method.

If you just want to be treated, see a doctor.
If you want to be well, see Carine.

Wellness Vitalized.

Things to do

What’s Washing Up on The Shore This Week

The Robots Are Watching

Florida summers: sunshine, gators, hurricanes—and now, the 100 Deadliest Days on our roads. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, crashes spike, tourists forget which side of the road to drive on, and locals wonder if turn signals have officially become optional.

But don’t worry. Tampa has a plan. And it involves robots.

That’s right, AI traffic systems are now scanning our roads in real time—watching for crashes, stalled cars, and the exact moment your patience runs out on I-75. Supposedly, they detect issues nine minutes faster than traditional systems. Which is cute. Because the traffic still isn’t moving.

And this isn’t just reactionary AI—no, no. This tech can predict crashes based on traffic flow, weather patterns, and sun angles. That’s right. Sun angles. The very thing that blinds you every morning on 301 is now a crash forecast metric. Welcome to Florida.

During Hurricane Ian, this AI helped map evacuation routes in real time, which sounds impressive—until you realize we’re trusting our lives to a system that probably still thinks “Wimauma” is a typo.

The next phase? The AI talks directly to your car. So if your dashboard suddenly starts nagging you about a slowdown ahead, it’s not your conscience—it’s just Big Brother doing you a solid.

Worried about privacy? Don’t be. You’re not a person anymore. You’re a blip. A totally anonymous, untraceable blip on the road. That’s what they tell us. 🤷‍♂️

So as we roll into another chaotic Florida summer, just know the robots are watching. Sounds creepy and it definitely is.

AROUND TOWN

Featured Summer Camps & Training

Looking for Round Two!

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Until next time,

Keep It Local.