Have you ever heard of the “Bonita Bay Shuffle?” If you had to guess, what do you think it is? If you guessed a new dance move Brenda and I are learning out on the dance floor, you would be wrong. If you thought it was a new card game we play at the Community Center to try and win money from some of our new friends in Florida, you would be wrong. If you guessed it was our new favorite Pandora light jazz song we listen to out on the patio while sipping a glass of wine, you would be wrong.
So what is it? The “Bonita Bay Shuffle” is the observation that very often people move three times once they move into our community, Bonita Bay. This normally happens over an extended period of time. Not being normal, we just moved into our third house since coming to Florida. I’m sure we just won an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Once again we find ourselves with the daunting yet exciting task of turning the house we bought into our home. I saw a description the other day of the word “home” that I really love. It said, “Home is a vessel that holds memories.” Every event, both good and bad, transforms your house into your home. A meal shared around the table, both laughter and tears, bedtime stories with little ones, the phone call from someone telling you your loved one has passed, and friends sitting out on the porch sipping coffee while eating a slice of pie all transform the four plaster walls of a house into a home.
A discovery we have made with our numerous moves is that memories can be transferred from one vessel to the next. This means we don’t start with an empty vessel as we move into our new home on Riverbank Drive. Here are a few of the memories out of the millions that we have transferred into our new home:
- Coming home with our first born son, Chris, wondering how would we ever be able to care for him.
- Carrying on the tradition of saying, “Good night, God bless you, I love you, Have sweet dreams, and I will see you in the morning” each night before we go to sleep.
- Our Polish neighbors giving us our first carp for Christmas Eve Dinner!
- Stringing popcorn and cranberries each Christmas season with new friends.
- The first day we realized David was beginning to lose his vision.
- The news that both Dan and Chris had found the young lady they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with.
- Sitting on our coach making phone calls to let people know David was now in heaven.
- Hosting our first couple in our home for David’s Refuge.
- Sitting in the hospital room with Dan as we waited for his arm to be reset.
- Holding our first grandchild in our arms.
- Eating a shrimp boil with family gathered around the table.
- Watching the sadness in my mother’s eyes when she was told it was no longer safe to cook alone in her own kitchen.
- Singing the Polish song “Sto lat! Sto lat! Niech zyje, zyje nam” as we celebrated numerous birthdays together.
We look forward to adding new memories to the ones we have already collected in the vessel we call our home. Hopefully, some of them will be made up with memories made with you! If you would like our new address, please private message me, call me, text me, or email me. I promise you we have settled for a long time.