World Honey Bee Day

Happy Saturday!  Today is World Honey Bee Day and since it's also the 20th day of the month, I thought it was only fitting to post something a little more personal today.  (My 38th birthday is exactly three months from today!) 

I think most people don't pay too much attention to what their name means.  I've never really given it much though until more recent years.  At some point, I discovered that my name meant "honey bee" in Greek.  The name Melissa comes from the Greek word μέλισσα (mélissa) or "bee", which comes from μέλι (meli) or "honey".  (Source)

Today, the name is not as popular on the baby charts as it once was.  Being born in 1984, I was one of many Melissas.  It was really popular in high school.  In our class of about 160 kids, there were four of us named Melissa.  Thankfully, two of them went by "Missy" so it was less confusing, but it was the most popular name in our class.

Still, it was always special to me even if it's popular in my age group.

I often tease my parents for naming me after their flower girl.  (Apparently, her name was Melissa.)  Mom claims that isn't true though, and that Daddy named me.  The story goes that he took one look at me and said I looked like a "Melissa Jo" and that was that!  I know I'm not the only one, but I've never seen "Melissa" and "Jo" together except one time... when we were in Boothbay Harbor years ago (I was probably in middle school or high school) and there was a boat in the harbor called the Melissa Jo.

When I went to Greece during my senior year of college, I was so excited to see the Greek alphabet and the letters that made up my name.  One of the days in Athens, our tour guide took us to this little mom and pop jewelry shop that was off the beaten path, and they had these necklaces you could get personalized.  It was a Greek column, and they put your name on it in the Greek alphabet   Naturally, I had to get one since not only was it my name, in Greek, but it was extra special to me since my name is Greek.

Of course, the honeybee aspect of my name is also special to me.  Ever since I found out the meaning behind my name, I've taken a special interest in bees.  For one of my birthdays in college, I asked my parents for a Swarovski necklace with bees on it.  (It was more abstract since the entire piece was silver with white crystals set in the shape of bees amongst swirls.)  I still remember them taking me to the Swarovski store in the Cambridgeside Galleria mall to purchase it.  I was so excited!

Years later, that necklace from Swarovski is the one I wore on Eliot's and my wedding day.  I never found anything that jumped out at me when looking at bridal jewelry, so I decided my necklace with bees on it would be perfect and more personal! 

As far as Disney goes, Winnie the Pooh would be a favorite anyways, but he's extra special to me because of his love of honey.  He's had a few adventures with honey bees, even if he didn't always fair so well with them!  I love Pooh merchandise that has bees on it.  A few weeks ago, I purchased an adorable Santa Pooh Loungefly.  The thing that made me absolutely need to add it to my collection...?  The honey bees were also wearing Santa hats!  They're so cute!!!

Unfortunately, honey bees are in danger of extinction.  They are not officially on the endangered list... yet.  But they are in danger if we don't do something.  Eliot and I always try to leave them be whenever we see them.  We have a few flowers out front that they like to visit.  I enjoy watching them but I steer clear of them so they can do their thing!  I also try to support businesses that help honey bees.  I've got a few things of Burt's Bees lip balm that I really love.  The company was also started here in Maine!

And that's my personal story about my name and how it's special to me.  I hope you enjoyed my post in honor of World Honey Bee day!  I hope we can come together to save the bees so they thrive and pollinate things for many years to come!!!  °o°