I have been meaning to write this post since early spring but too many other topics have been front of mind for me. It is no mystery I enjoy being out in the woods among all of nature’s wonders, no offense intended, but the wilderness and natures creatures without a developed cerebral cortex are preferred. We humans are just too damn crazy at times, myself very much included; I try not to be a hypocrite. The two things I enjoy most about humans is our written language and our craziness, that craziness gives someone like me ample opportunity to write, perfect. Today I will have to thank nature, not humans.
While I was on one of my typical outings, getting away from humans, I was in the woods, playing disc golf, go figure, and another strange event happened to me. I was in Paducah, which is part of my triangle of life as I call it…I live in Mayfield, work in Murray, and eat in Paducah among other things; I had lunch, did some writing just like I am now, and I went to get some exercise and some quiet time. The usual things happened, I lost concern for everything around me, I had some good and bad throws, I was getting eaten up by mosquitos and I was sweating a lot. I made my way to the next hole and sat down and took a drink of water partly because something was in my way, which I will come back to. Now I will have to explain disc golf a little here so everyone will understand. Disc Golf is sort of like golf but you use smaller disc like Frisbees. Every hole has a par, the number of times on average needed to reach the basket. There are different types of disc for the type of throw needed depending on distance, angle, etc… On the first throw you start on a tee pad usually made of concrete. I chose my disc and I waited because you see, I was waiting for something to get out of my way. As I walked up to the tee pad there was a wood bee hovering over the center of the concrete pad and I didn’t want to upset it. I figured it would go away if I was patient; I was wrong. The wood bee just hovered without any care for me, unconcerned and undeterred. After some time passed I really wanted to be on my way but I didn’t want to skip playing the hole because I love it so much. I thought I would intimidate the little thing with my size and proximity and get it to fly away without hurting it; once again I was mistaken. My next plan was to be a little more aggressive and fan it with my disc, no luck; so I gathered some loose mulch and gently tossed it up towards the persistent bugger hoping it would get the message. After several attempts I was in the same predicament and the wood bee made no attempts to injure me, instead it just held its ground hovering over the tee pad for what seemed like ten minutes; now for an impatient human that is a long time. I was befuddled but my curiosity was peaked to say the least; I have never come across something like this in all my time spent in the woods that I could remember. Nature was against me, Pan was teaching me a lesson. I gave up my attempts and sat back down determined to wait and play the hole.
I was puzzled, mystified and realized once again, the world did not rotate around me. I sat and observed what I knew was something special even though I had no clue what it was, but I would sit and hopefully be taught something, maybe some great lesson from nature or the grand cosmos. It also occurred to me there may be no significance and I was just hoping for something inspiring and my instinct was wrong; I really hoped my gut was right and I would be made a better person. I waited and I waited as I kept my focus on this little but indomitable wood bee and then it happened. I remember that moment vividly as I am writing this and it did move me. That wood bee, which would not move despite everything I did short of killing it, was waiting; in that moment another wood bee flew over that tee pad, they danced for just a brief moment and then flew off. Too say I was touched would not be properly stating the truth. I smiled so broadly and my spirit was lifted. I was so thankful to have experienced such an event and thankful I had not killed the wood bee for my own selfishness. Call me silly, but I am a romantic at heart and I try to remember that I am not the only or most important thing around. Every hole on this course has a name given to it and posted on signs and each name has significance to the hole, but for me this hole will forever hold a different name for me, I call it Wood Bee Love, and I think about that day every time I play hole number nine.
While I was on one of my typical outings, getting away from humans, I was in the woods, playing disc golf, go figure, and another strange event happened to me. I was in Paducah, which is part of my triangle of life as I call it…I live in Mayfield, work in Murray, and eat in Paducah among other things; I had lunch, did some writing just like I am now, and I went to get some exercise and some quiet time. The usual things happened, I lost concern for everything around me, I had some good and bad throws, I was getting eaten up by mosquitos and I was sweating a lot. I made my way to the next hole and sat down and took a drink of water partly because something was in my way, which I will come back to. Now I will have to explain disc golf a little here so everyone will understand. Disc Golf is sort of like golf but you use smaller disc like Frisbees. Every hole has a par, the number of times on average needed to reach the basket. There are different types of disc for the type of throw needed depending on distance, angle, etc… On the first throw you start on a tee pad usually made of concrete. I chose my disc and I waited because you see, I was waiting for something to get out of my way. As I walked up to the tee pad there was a wood bee hovering over the center of the concrete pad and I didn’t want to upset it. I figured it would go away if I was patient; I was wrong. The wood bee just hovered without any care for me, unconcerned and undeterred. After some time passed I really wanted to be on my way but I didn’t want to skip playing the hole because I love it so much. I thought I would intimidate the little thing with my size and proximity and get it to fly away without hurting it; once again I was mistaken. My next plan was to be a little more aggressive and fan it with my disc, no luck; so I gathered some loose mulch and gently tossed it up towards the persistent bugger hoping it would get the message. After several attempts I was in the same predicament and the wood bee made no attempts to injure me, instead it just held its ground hovering over the tee pad for what seemed like ten minutes; now for an impatient human that is a long time. I was befuddled but my curiosity was peaked to say the least; I have never come across something like this in all my time spent in the woods that I could remember. Nature was against me, Pan was teaching me a lesson. I gave up my attempts and sat back down determined to wait and play the hole.
I was puzzled, mystified and realized once again, the world did not rotate around me. I sat and observed what I knew was something special even though I had no clue what it was, but I would sit and hopefully be taught something, maybe some great lesson from nature or the grand cosmos. It also occurred to me there may be no significance and I was just hoping for something inspiring and my instinct was wrong; I really hoped my gut was right and I would be made a better person. I waited and I waited as I kept my focus on this little but indomitable wood bee and then it happened. I remember that moment vividly as I am writing this and it did move me. That wood bee, which would not move despite everything I did short of killing it, was waiting; in that moment another wood bee flew over that tee pad, they danced for just a brief moment and then flew off. Too say I was touched would not be properly stating the truth. I smiled so broadly and my spirit was lifted. I was so thankful to have experienced such an event and thankful I had not killed the wood bee for my own selfishness. Call me silly, but I am a romantic at heart and I try to remember that I am not the only or most important thing around. Every hole on this course has a name given to it and posted on signs and each name has significance to the hole, but for me this hole will forever hold a different name for me, I call it Wood Bee Love, and I think about that day every time I play hole number nine.