The Bee Sting

I was stung by a bee on Saturday. Have you ever been stung? Prior to this stinging I had been sting clear. I’m not terribly afraid of bees, and stick to the script of 'if I leave the bee alone it won’t bother me.' I don’t flail and flap my arms around when it is close, I just ignore the buzzing bundle of yellow and black.

I was sitting by the pool, minding my own business and this bee was mesmerized by me, or so it would seem as it didn’t leave me alone. It kept flitting by, buzzing around my legs, around my arms yet I stuck to the script. Noone told me though it was a different director with a different point of view, and lo and behold the dastardly buzzer buzzed it’s last when it stung my arm and left it’s stinger as proof.

It HURT!! It stung :) More than I realized it would. There were others sitting at the pool and I didn’t want to cry out, but you know that icy cold and then hot flush that emanates from the inside out when you’re body is in pain?! Well, that was my first physical reaction. Then I had to pull the stinger out, it didn’t hurt but it did take a moment before I actually yanked it out.

I continued to sit by the pool, my arm aching and my body feeling a little off kilter, but I was finishing a book so a good book trumps all :)

The area around the sting swelled up and the redness spread down my arm. It has irritated me for a few days now, and I’ve resisted the urge to scratch.

It made me think of being stung in other areas of my life. The bee’s sting caught me off guard. Granted he was buzzing around, and had been for at least 30 minutes, but I had never been stung before so I didn’t have any reason to suspect that this creature would sting.

Ever have those moments in life with people? I’ve had a few dramatic ones in recent months, and it stings. The initial sting hurts, then you have to pull out that which stung, and then the pain and irritation from the sting lingers. You have to resist scratching at it, and making it worse. You have to administer soothing lotion to the area. You have to ice the area and allow it to cool down. The area eventually reduces in swelling and redness, and in a month the sting will be just a memory.

But do you know what’s interesting? I learnt from the pharmacist that once you’ve been stung once by a bee, you’re much more likely to develop allergic reactions and the subsequent stings can cause much more damage.

My dad said perhaps I should change the script, rather than let the bee buzz freely around, take a swat at and give it a bruising! I think perhaps his words are words of wisdom, sometimes there are instances and people that rather than let them buzz around you waiting for them to sting, you have to make the first strike and sometimes that strike can as simple as removing yourself, because as good as a book is, it doesn’t diminish the sting it just allows you to momentarily forget!!