Sweat Bees

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were big things.” – Robert Brault

This summer, while working in the yard, I found myself pestered by sweat bees. You may be familiar with them. They seem to travel in groups, and when one of these itty-bitty bees finds a sweaty body, it bids all its itty-bitty friends to join it. Sweat bees are not aggressive, but the females will sting if they become alarmed. Though they are small, their sting is enough to get your attention.

As I tried to fan them away, I thought, “Wow, I haven’t seen sweat bees in forever. Where have they been?” Then it occurred to me. 

I do remember the last time I saw sweat bees.

In a moment of time, I was back at my grandmother’s house. I was there with her in the backyard on the swing. The wooden swing and posts were painted red. I especially recall the color because one summer, when I was about seven or so, Ma let me apply a fresh coat of red barn paint. It was probably a mess. I will never really know, because she made it out to be the best paint job that had ever been done – she doted on me like that. 

We did other things at the swing. I remember helping her rip the seams out of feather pillows to combine the flat pillows into fatter ones. On the swing, we read, broke beans for canning, and sometimes just “shot the breeze.” Once, while she sat on the swing, and my brother and I played, the flames escaped from her old burn barrel. When we noticed it, we alerted her. She hollered out and sent us running for water buckets so as not to burn up the neighbor's crop field. Whew, that was a close call. Most of those memories were made in the summertime. It seems like there were always sweat bees hanging around in those memories, and that is the place where I vaguely recollect my first encounters with their petite pricks. 

How could I have ever thought that it had been thirty years since I last saw a sweat bee? I know better! In the present-day July sun, as I tried to drive the little apians away, I realized that the sweat bees were always around. They never went anywhere. I just stopped noticing them. I have been thinking about that ever since. It reminded me that sometimes the smallest things can be the biggest reminders. It made me think about how fast life passes and how quickly we sometimes move through our days. 

In our busy day-to-day, I encourage us all to slow down enough to notice, appreciate, and remember the little things. 

When was the last time you saw a sweat bee?

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