12/31/2025
“That’s not me.”
My mother-in-law’s reaction to the signs for Miss Dorothy’s Garden still makes me laugh.
When we surprised her with the idea of the book for her 99th birthday, I wasn’t sure she fully understood what I was trying to do. She met the illustrator, Robin Swaby, on Zoom. She saw the early drawings. And every time, her response was the same:
“That doesn’t look like me.”
And truthfully, she didn’t seem all that interested in the process.
But when the printed books were delivered—just after her 100th birthday party last year—everything changed.
I’ll never forget it.
She came down the stairs faster than I’ve ever seen her move, just to see the boxes.
She insisted on sitting with me as I carried each one into the house.
She picked up a copy, flipped slowly through every page.
And when she got to the end, she looked up and said:
“It’s about me.”
Yes, Mom. It is.
It’s dedicated to your century of service in San Francisco, in California, and across the nation.
But now—just one year later—we can say something even bigger:
It’s reaching the world.
What started as a book is now a global kindness movement.
Children are becoming BEE Buddies.
Ambassadors are helping them sow kindness.
And I’m inviting you to help it grow.
