The Bee

     So it's that time of year again when I think about new things and the meaning of life and what my goals are and I was thinking about how I never write in my blog and I realized that some of the reasons why I don't write are because I feel like when I write it should be meaningful and profound or tell a great story about my day but usually what's floating around in my head is nowhere near profound or even something people might find interesting, so rather than have everyone believing I am some kind of nut case (which I probably am) I just don't write.  But my cousin Amy recently had a book published (Empty Nest ) and that has gotten me thinking about my own writing and so there are a lot of things that I want to say but today I just want to talk about The Bee.

     Wednesday morning I got in my car to go to work and as I was pulling out of the parking lot I noticed there was a bee on my windshield.  I wondered where the little guy had come from and what made him decide to take a break on my car.  As I started driving away I wondered how long he would hang on & if I should drive slower so I didn't accidentally break his wing or something.  I presume the bee is a he because I have been told that female bees don't leave the hive, that the queen sits around all day having babies & the other female bees are basically the nurse maids for all the eggs/larvae/whatever the next stage in bee life is.

     As I got farther down the road I began to be worried about the bee.  He wasn't really moving & I worried that he might already be hurt or dead & just stuck to my windshield.  I had to force myself to not turn on the windshield wipers at this thought for fear of doing the bee further harm.  I did finally see the bee adjust his grip at one point so I new he was alive but he still made no moves to leave the car and I started to worry that he was going to get too far from home and never make it back to his hive again.  This made me wonder if he had a little bee family somewhere.  Just because only the queen has the babies doesn't mean he doesn't have a sweet bee wife and adopted children out there somewhere.  Or friends maybe, who are looking for him.  Which caused all sorts of weird imaginary bee scenarios to play out in my mind.

     By the time I made it onto and then off of the highway I began to feel a sense of pride in the bee that he was able to hold on for so long.  I marveled at the strength of his legs and the little hairs bugs have on their feet that let them keep their grip on surfaces that to humans seem smooth and non-porous.  I wondered at how he could keep his wings in place and at how much effort that might take for a bee and how strong his wing muscles must be.  I began cheering on the bee in my mind secretly hoping he could go the distance and make it all the way to work with me but worried again that if he did he wouldn't be able to find his way home since he was riding on my car and not flying.  (I'm not sure what kind of GPS system bees have in their brains and if he would be able to fly back home by some kind of homing beacon or if they make a map in their brain as they fly to find their way home again.)

     This made me think about what would happen if he didn't make it home.  Would he die of loneliness?  Would he find a new hive to go and live with?  If he did find other bees would they take him in or treat him with suspicion?  Is there some kind of adoption program for bees that have wandered from their hive & can't make it home again?  Is this a common thing for bees to not make it home or do they always make it back?  I hope that bees have better sense than humans and that if he does end up in a new hive they take him in and give him a new job and become friends with him.  Or maybe help him get back to his original hive, or would it be swarm?  I pictured myself as a wizened old bee discovering him flying aimlessly around in sorrow at his loss and taking him back to my house & feeding him some bee tee and helping him get back on his feet.

     And then I finally made it to work with the bee still in the same spot on the windshield and I found myself wanting to sit in the car and wait for the bee to fly away so I could make sure he was ok.  I didn't actually do that, I had to go into work before I was late.  But it was really tempting to stay, I've never had a bee adventure before.

     When I got out of work 9 hours later I had forgotten completely about the bee but I did notice that he was no longer there when it started sprinkling and I had to turn on my windshield wipers.  I first checked the spot to see if the bee was accompanying me home.  He was not, and it was safe to turn them on.  I wonder what happened to the bee, I hope he gathered lots of pollen and made it back home safely.  As I'm typing this I remember a different bee that I saw at work on my lunch break today (not actually today since it's after midnight, but I think you know what I mean).  I had decided to eat in my car because sometimes I just get tired of being in that building so much & sometimes I need some peace and quiet.  I had eaten a pear & put the core in the cup holder between the seats since that was the only spot without fabric on it.  As I was about to go back inside a bee flew into the car, I didn't think anything of it because of the pear & managed to shoo him out of the car so he didn't suffocate in my car for 4 hours.  Now that I'm remembering both of these bees though I hope it was not the same bee trying to get a ride home.  I hope that both bees will live happily ever after with lives full of whatever they love most. The end.