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In writing these blogs I kept thinking how much we were able to enjoy, absolutely, the best of times and the very best that Sarasota had to offer in our youth.  I had to revise my thinking this past weekend, though.  We spent Mother's Day celebrating with our daughter and son-in-law, (Pam and Larry) and our granddaughter and grand son-in-law, (Heather and Rob), and I listened to Pam describe her formative years when she would come down to our shop with her brother, Ken, and me.  She and Ken would wander off down Main St. or ride bikes around downtown when that was the center of activity here, and they felt free as birds.  They always felt safe, and I felt they were safe.  She spoke of learning to ride a unicycle behind our shop in the alley and how much fun it was to ride it to school.  She named many of the businesses in downtown she used to go in and can still remember the lay-out of each shop and the people who ran them and the lasting impressions they made on her.  It was such fun walking down memory lane with her.

She also spoke of the hundreds of parakeets that inhabited the palm trees downtown and how lovely their chirping sounded when they settled in the palm tree outside our shop.

Larry chimed in and recalled how he and his neighborhood friends would go out after breakfast and play all day, coming home only when they got hungry, and then back out until dark. His parents also didn't have to worry about their safety.

All of this made me realize that each generation has their own happy memories, and that's what makes it: "The Happiest and Best of Times" for them too.

Life is good.