Bumblebee rescue

It is no secret that something is amiss.

Please, if you are wondering, just turn that wonder into prayer.

And in the meantime, I'll tell you a story.

This morning, I was too frightened to sleep or get out of bed or take a shower (which would involve getting out of bed) or tiptoe downstairs for coffee.

I thought that this day could get no worse. 

Ha ha. 

It did and there is always room for more it seems.

Eventually, I made it downstairs into this warm empty home of a friend. As I opened the yard door to let Grace, the pup, in or out, I saw the pool and thought, "I love water. This might be healing." 

After digging out my ratty old drag suit, I put my red glasses aside and dove into the deep end of a yielding pool under a cloudy sky threatening rain.

Immediately, I felt peace. Water does that for me. I've always thought I was part MerMom. 

No sooner did I raise my arms above my head for an awful attempt at a butterfly did the tears begin again and again and again. I drained my soul of the last of the morning's tears into that beautiful crisp cool embracing water. I dog paddled around. Crying. Crying out to a God I could not see who seems to favor a harsh reality.

That is when I spotted the bee.

It was wearily wrestling the water towards safety. It was easy to see that the bee was losing to the bright blue.

I'm allergic-ish to bees. I puff up like a big scratchy itchy puffer fish when stung, but that is about it. No need for an epi-pen. Just a lot of sting-ease, baking soda, allergy meds, and ice. And patience. I hate pain and bees are just bearers of that pain.

Well…that's not singularly true. Bees are awfully good pollinators and producers.

• It takes 2 million hits on a flower to craft one pound of honey
• 1,500 flowers contribute to one load of pollen that the bee carries for up to 12 miles a trip
• An ounce of honey would fuel a bee's flight around the world
• Bees are declining in numbers due to habitat loss and the effects of pesticides on the environment. This is not good for agriculture, food production, or the ecosystem upon which humans depend to sustain the life given.

Some of these facts collided with my "OH GEEZ! It's a bee!' thoughts and mild panic as I ducked under water in a maneuver perfected in childhood. 

And quickly the truth of the bee overtook my fear of the pain. I decided it was time to see what I could do to help that bee out of the blue soup.

Anyhoo, who wants to risk swallowing a struggling bee while swimming? Not I.

My first attempts were crude: splash bee out of water. My second attempts were only slightly better: try to create enough wave action to lift the bee onto a cresting wave and over the lip of the pool. 

Each attempt only furthered the bee's suffering.

So, silly me, I prayed about it. You see, my executive functioning has been overcome recently by pain and I am not problem-solving with much semblence of success right now. 

Guess what? The prayer worked.

Immediately, I realized that if I could put something solid beneath the struggling stingy bee, then I could gently lift it out of the water. So that's what I did. A small rock and gentle words to both myself and the bee, and the deed was done. With no delay, the bee was drying its water-logged wings on the rock under cloudy skies.

And I never got stung.

I wonder why or how that bee ended up fighting for its life in that beautiful pool surrounded by verdant garden.

Did it try to drink the water too deeply and succumb to the wind-blown waves?

Was it escaping a bird and dove towards the water at too steep an angle?

Did it see the tasty flowers that surround the pool reflected in the water and not realize the danger of the illusion until too late?

I sure doubt that the bee intended to get itself mired in the water.

I wonder if it even had counseled with its bee pals and family to see if this water was truly safe or those wiggly squiggly flowers were real and good rather than a dangerous illusion.

That bee and I – we will live to see another day. And I hope it lives a good and gracious life as a productive pollinating purposeful little buzzer. 

Me too.