I stepped on a honeybee in the yard Sunday morning as I was walking in my bare feet. The bee didn’t like it one bit. I wasn’t crazy about it either.
I knew the clovers were blooming in the yard and honeybees like to extract nectar from them. I am usually successful in keeping an eye out for them and sidestepping them.
I had other things on my mind at the time. The critter that has been stealing apples from our apple tree had been at it again. It got into the trap Sweetheart and I had set for it, set it off and managed to escape. My mind was occupied with thoughts of how that could have happened when a sharp pain in my toe jolted me out of my reverie.
I kept on with the task at hand, while trying to ignore the pain in my foot. It was about an hour later that I thought about looking to see if the stinger was still in my toe. Darned if it wasn’t! I pulled it out and continued with some other things that needed to be done.
I needed to make a snack for the social hour at church in the afternoon. I needed to fix dinner for Sweetheart and me. I needed to get a shower. During that time, honeybee poison was spreading through my foot and up to my ankle. By the time we left for church, my foot had swollen like a balloon and I was hobbling with a cane.
As the pain and swelling increased, I decided to go to Urgent Care for assistance of some kind. Turns out there isn’t much a person can do, medically, for a bee sting. In fact, by that time, I was already doing it--staying off my foot; elevating it; applying ice; and taking allergy pills.
For several days I had to walk carefully; I couldn’t dance; had to be generally sedentary; couldn’t accomplish some things I would have liked to do.
However, there was some paperwork that I had been putting off. This was a good time to do it. It gave me a feeling of accomplishment. As Ma Ingalls used to day, in the “Little House” books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, “There’s no great loss without some small gain.”
That little honeybee made a big impact on my life for several days. My one little indiscretion changed my plans for the next few days.
Each of us impacts, not only our own lives, but the lives of others. Each decision we make makes a difference. Sometimes we may think we don’t matter in the big scheme of things. We do.
We all make a difference. Let’s make it a good difference.
Dorothy is the author of two books—“Miles and Miracles” and “Getting It All Together “. You can purchase a book or send a comment by emailing her at dorothybutzknight@gmail.com
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