Bee Happy -- Living in Paradise

Today I want to save my writing chops for the poem I am creating based on the Timothy Cook poem I shared yesterday in this blog.  But I know that if I miss a day, that may start an avalanche of missed days, so I decided today is a tribute day to a special item in my home -- the Bee Happy book.

 This little gem was given to me by my friend Maureen Mesicko when I left Ohio for Florida.  Her vision of it was that I'd write many happy memories in the book.

Well, I did just that.  The beginning pages of the book document things we were seeing and doing the first couple of months in Florida. But after that it became something else -- it is our guest memory book.

One of our first guests were Margie and Paul in September, 2000.  This was before they got married. When guests sign the book, they usually mention specific things we did that were enjoyable, making it documentation of each guest's visit I can go back to time and again and reminisce.  Margie and Paul would return in 2002 while she was pregnant with Ricky, again in 2004 with Ricky, and then in 2008 with both of their boys.  Here is Ricky's signature from the 2008 visit when he was 6.

My mother also makes several appearances, as she came in 2003 with my aunt and uncle, again in 2004 for my BA graduation, in 2006 for my Masters graduation, and then in 2008 for Christmas. 

But the person that gets the #1 honor for most entries is my friend Iris.  She comes to visit nearly every year, and always writes a full entry about our activities.  I really appreciate the running record of our time together and the things we did.  In the time she's been visiting she has walked & biked across the country, and published a book about it!

Occasionally I forget to have a guest sign the book, which is always disappointing, because I've lost the chance to get a record of their impressions.  If they are so kind to send a thank you note (which many do), I'm able to tape that into the book.  I have a few of those.

The bottom line on this is that the Bee Happy book is a great reminder to me of why I live in Florida.  Over and over guests comment that this is "paradise,"  "a great retreat,"  and "Heaven."  I'm reminded of the value of sunshine and the proximity of great beaches and awesome seafood.  There is simply no reason not to "bee happy."