Bees Are Cool

Yesterday, B. and I went for a walk in the great outdoors. Back in the day, I was not a huge fan of the great outdoors, being more or less an indoor person. Trying to broaden my horizons, I was on a trail in a canyon which runs parallel to the 52 freeway, its name unknown to me.

The trail was amazing. The trees were majestic, the sky a brilliant blue, B. a perfect guide for this little foray, as he is a horticulturalist. My horizons were broadening with each passing moment.

B. and I had walked about 3/4 of the way when I observed a bee. The bee was hanging out on a yellow flower, quite bumbling and happy. I showed B., declaring with gusto, "I like bees. Bees are cool." I don't remember being quite so enthusiastic about bees before, but it seemed appropriate out there in the great outdoors.

B. concurred. He used to have 9 beehives that he tended back in the day. As we kept walking, B. showered me with bee factoids, including some of their behavior when protecting a queen. Then, they're not quite as bumbling and cool.

We walked for a few more minutes when a buzzing noise became noticeable. We walked a bit further, and I saw the cloud, hundreds and hundreds of bees swarming in front of us, with a gigantic cluster of them in the neighboring tree. I promptly did what any girl in fluffy, white, unused tennis shoes would do: cower behind B.

Standing stock still, there was nothing to do except wait patiently, as we were on the periphery of the swarm. B. seemed to be tuned into how dangerous the bees might be, and finally instructed me to move forward down the path. I moved, oh, how I moved, and neither B. nor I got stung.

I sighed with relief when it was over, and laughed with B. over our bee adventure, thankful that we got out of the frenzy without any stings. For an indoor girl like me, I was delighted to have an adventure in the great outdoors that turned out well.

On our way back to the car, I thought about what had happened. Our bee-swarm-survival-strategy just proved to me that sometimes making the right move is to not move at all, but to stay still and be patient. Only then, by practicing patience, can I dodge or deal with the obstacle at hand, especially in a foreign environment.

If I can learn that patience pays off, maybe bees really are that cool.