Me - - - Against the Bee

Dayton and I just came back from our second morning walk of the day. As usual, Dayton was in his Bjorn carrier with his face towards my chest. A few minutes into the walk, a bee dive bombed us and landed directly on my chest - - -one inch from Dayton's face (and I'm not exaggerating). There was literally no warning. It's not like he was buzzing around my head and then decided to land. He came from stage left across the street and bam....landed on my chest! My first thought was, "could this be real?...come on, of all places for this bee to land!".

After looking down at the bee for a moment or two, it was clear to me that he was quite comfortable sitting on my chest and was not planning on departing. I weighed my options.

- I could swat the bee away. No...Dayton may end up getting stung.
- I could let the bee hang for awhile until he happily decided to fly away. No...Dayton may end up getting stung.
- I could invite the bee on our leisurely walk and perhaps he would recognize my hospitality and decide not to sting either me or Dayton. No...Dayton may end up getting stung.

Ultimately, I realized the only way to truly avoid Dayton getting stung was to reach down and grab the bee....and yes, likely get stung. So I did...I held Dayton's face away with one hand and grabbed the bee with the other and tossed it like I was pitching the World Series. Yes, I got stung...but Dayton did not and that is all that matters to me!

I took a deep breath and kept on walking. It has been a very long time since I'd gotten stung by a bee and I'd never been allergic...but I couldn't help but check in with myself from time to time to make sure I was not going into anaphylaxic shock. A few minutes later and nope, still not allergic. A sigh of relief.

I just watched 'The Bee Movie' literally last week and really enjoyed it. The movie reminded me of the importance of bees in our world. It's really too bad this particular bee happened to cross my path at the time and manner that it did. If that bee was in my house, I would have tried to find a cup to put over it, slide a piece of paper under it and release it outside. But no, it had to dive bomb Dayton and I on our walk this morning. Tisk tisk.

I get extra Mommy stripes today.