Member-only story
Befriending a Bumblebee
With a little help from my husband — and my father
When we lived in Minnesota, my husband I were having lunch out on our patio one afternoon in late April. As we ate and talked, I glanced down and noticed a big, hairy, black and yellow bumblebee crawling in my direction. Without thinking, I started making little panic sounds, clumsily trying to get my feet off the concrete quickly.
As I shifted around looking for a way to fold my legs, Greg finally noticed what was causing my discomfort. He studied the bee and said, “It’s trying to crawl up your chair.” My body tensed up at the thought of this insect crawling onto my back or arm or leg or whatever.
Greg knelt down to have a better look. “I think something’s wrong with one of its wings. It can’t fly.” Then he did something horrifying to me: he put his hand down on the ground and escorted the bee onto his palm. I watched him in awe and fascination, and started asking some questions to help myself settle down. “How can you tell it won’t sting you?”
He told me that not all bumblebees sting, something I’d never heard before. In my experience, not only do all bumblebees sting, but they do so unprovoked and for no apparent reason. I’ve been stung four times that I can remember, and each time, I was minding my own business and completely unaware of…
