Happy Birthday Honey-Bee

I would like to talk about my Dad, the birthday boy. My heart fills with warmth as I look back at the incredible memories that I have shared with him. I would like to share a few with you now.

When I was younger, I used to call him "Honeybee." The story goes like this.... As a child we repeat your parents words. Growing up my dad called me Honeybee and I in return called him Honeybee. My parents had a house built in Morada and my dad wrote the word Honeybee on the start of the pathway that went around the house while the cement was wet. He also wrote the word Rascel for my sister; but thats a whole other story altogether! My grandma Genny took me to preschool. A father of one of the kids at preschool asked me what my fathers name was and I told him, "Honeybee." He looked at my grandma and she said, "Yep thats his name!"

Growing up in Morada, we had 2 acres of kiwi on our property. Twice a year my dad rented a tractor to disc up around the kiwi plants. I remember hoping and praying that my dad would come back with a tractor with a horn. I have fond memories are taking a big glass of water to my dad and asking him if I could ride with him and pretend to drive. I'm sure that big glass of water looked like gold to him.

My father has owed and operated a successful salon for many years. Growing up Whitney and I spent many a nights in the corner laying on sleeping bags watching my parents decorate for the up coming holidays. My dad is known for his exciting and chic atmosphere in his salon. Whitney and I would be treated to Round Table Pizza and of course Baskin Robbins Ice Cream. Summer time, was spent at the salon and I loved every minute of it. I knew most, if not all of my mom and dad's clients. My favorite thing that my dad let me do was sweep up hair after haircuts and ring up the hair products that were bought. There was only one or two clients that my parents let me shampoo. I felt like a real grow-up then! My dad starts work at 6am every morning and I would arrive at the salon with my mom around 8am; so by the time 11am rolled around I wanted some Baskin Robbins ice cream (which is 4 doors down). I cant believe that I was able to do this, but I would get ice cream at 11am and again around 3pm. Two scoops each time, mind you. Any one who knows our family....BIG ICE CREAM LOVERS! To this day, if I hear a song on the radio from the 80's it quickly brings me back to the time spent at the salon with my dad.

Continuing to talk about ice cream, my family would go to AM/PM to get a soft serve on a cone. It just took once for me to see how high my dad made his, and from that day forward my Daddy made mine too. AM/PM was located by the freeway and it was a favorite pit stop before any volleyball game/outing. Soda, beef jerky, hamburgers, chips or just licorice are some of the things that would start the trip off right.

Living out in Morada gave us many advantages. I would have to say that having your own Firework show and not having the authorities come is a big advantage. My dad is like a kid.....the bigger the better! Now living in Lodi, he still puts on a show.

Camping at Silver Lake is a family tradition. My memories of Silver Lake is when my dad would take us for hikes. We had a favorite camp site that backed up to a stream. We would follow that for miles and miles and we discovered a beautiful water fall. My dad would always have great adventures planned for us. Also we had a favorite store up there called Kay's where we would get...Yes, ice cream. I would either get missiles, its its ice cream sandwiches or push ups.

At the end of June every year, our family would go to the neighboring property and down their driveway and over a bridge that led us to blackberries galore. If we had a lot of rain that year the bridge would be under water and slippery moss would make it hard to cross it. One year the moss almost took me down, but I wasn't defeated. Eating as much as we wanted along the way and almost picking more than we could carry; we would come back home and wait for my mom to bake her famous berry pie.

My dad has a great sense of humor. Wild and crazy, funny to only him, laughing until he cries, describes the good times I have had. There is one time in particular I would like to share with you. It must have been close to midnight in December. And you know when its late everything is funny, Right? Well my dad and I were watching National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and we just couldn't stop laughing hysterically. We woke up my mom and I thought we were bussed for sure. But she must of thought we were to cute. Another time my dad and I were watching Ground Hogs Day and the same thing happened; laughing until we cried.

I am blessed with a kind, genuine, loving and dedicated dad. Being around him makes me strive to be better and love life more. I look forward to the times we spend together.

I love you dad.
Happy Birthday Honeybee!