"Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves, come when life seems most challenging."
-Joseph Campbell
When I saw what the topic was for this edition of the Round Robin Challenges was, I thought to myself... "YIKES! I know exactly what to share, I will share my fear of bees." I have a pretty good reason for fearing them, see, my mother was highly allergic to them, and one day when I was a little girl, I saw her stung by a honey bee. The next few hours were really frightening. She was in her garden, tending to her roses, and I was on our front porch, enjoying a frozen juice bar, she had just bought me off the ice cream truck. It was a hot summer day, so that treat was really hitting the spot. Suddenly, I saw my mother fall to the ground. I got up and ran to her, to see she was making choking sounds and sweating. I ran across the street to my neighbor, who called an ambulance for us. It seemed like it took them forever, she was in anaphylactic shock.
My mother knew she was allergic to bees, yet chose to keep a garden anyway. She did things like that. I guess it was her way of living on the edge or something. Eventually, our HMO gave her a bee sting kit to carry with her, should she ever have it happen again. Thank goodness, it never did, but the incident left me with a huge fear of bees, and most flying creatures for that matter, and she did nothing to quell those fears. One day, a few years ago, I realized I feared more in life than I embraced. I was tired of worrying about everything, and taking on all that negativity. So, while I was in therapy to fix some problems I had, I decided to work on some of my fears. It was my way of gaining control over my life again, or for the first time... LOL. I am never really sure which it is. LOL.
I have been enjoying photographing bees the last couple years, although unfortunately I haven't yet achieved the PERFECT bee photo yet. I have lots, and lots of bee butts. LOL. I also have bird butts, butterfly butts, and even an airplane butt at low altitude... but I haven't gotten a picture of a bee smiling at my camera. I think I am going to make this year, the year of the "Flying Creatures." I have all the rest of the year to come up with one happy bee. Overcoming my fears has been exhausting, it seems like I have had so many, but each time I allow myself to face it head on, deal with the pain, and finally take the mystery out of it, I move on in life with a lot more peace. I am lucky, because most of my life challenges can be captured in the lens of my camera, which allows me to face it on my own terms. Then I can research it, learn about it, and finally move on. It's not so extraordinary really, folks do it every day. Sometime I will share about my overwhelming fear of ceramic coffee mugs! LOL. I mean my former overwhelming fear of ceramic coffee mugs. WINK!
Allergies To Insect Stings - WebMD
Spider Bites and Insect Stings Quiz - MayoClinic
Linking List
1. Kerrin... A New Day A New Photo
POSTED!
2. Steven... (sometimes) photoblog
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3. Carly... Ellipsis... Suddenly Carly
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4. Karen... Outpost Mavarin
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5. boliyou... Percolation
6. Kat... In My Dreams I Can Fly
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7. Nancy... Nancy Luvs Pics
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8. Suzanne R... New Suzanne R's Life
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9. Marie... Photographs and Memories
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10. Teena... It's all about me!
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11. Gattina... Keyhole Pictures
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12. Valorie... Dear Family
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-OndineMonet
10 comments:
Wow, those photos are great. I just love fruit tree blossoms. And I'm not adverse to a nice bees rear end.
Lucky for you I didn't go with my first idea for the challenge. I may have been responsible for you experiencing a terrible fright. may never have managed to drink again. You will understand when you read my entry Cheers kerrin
You know, I was just pondering the place that our buzzing friends hold in Springtime as I was staring down a huge black and gold bumblebee on my balcony a few minutes ago!
I got nailed by one when I was a kid right on the forehead...caused my eye to almost swell shut. That'll teach me to look where I'm running! :-) Thank God I was never allergic, though.
Great photos, as always, Carly!
I think your bee shots are pretty near to perfect, actually. And you are braver than I am at getting them. :-) My sons Jeff and J.D. are both allergic to bee stings, but so far haven't reacted as badly as your mother did. I hope they never do!
It's very inspiring the way you have faced your fears.
Great challenge entry!!!The images are ALL beautiful shots!
Marie
Excellent, Carly! Great pictures, and an amazing story. One would never know from these cool close-ups what you've overcome to be able to take them!
(Back later to play catch-up....)
I'm not a big fan of bees either :(
Thanks for stopping by mine :)
I know the hunt for the "perfect" bee photo. I have no fear of the bee and the bee has no fear of me. That does not make it any easier though :-)
these are beautiful! i love them.
Your bee photos are great. I know from COUNTLESS attempts that it's no small feat! I'm glad you have learned that there is nothing to fear. I kind of like being somewhere where they are flying lazily all around me.
What do you mean, you haven't achieved the perfect bee photo yet? They seem pretty amazing to me! Great entry, and thanks for sharing.
~Valorie
http://journals.aol.com/redbird914/DearFamily/entries/2007/04/06/round-robin--personal-challenge/1570
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