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There is a story I have been told that happened when I had only been on the Earth about a year. I don’t actually remember it. I was born in Texas, and we lived there until I was about two years old. Apparently, the house we lived in had a fairly large backyard that was perfect for young kids to explore and have adventures. The only problem about exploring and adventuring at this particular time in my life was that I could not yet walk. This presented a conundrum to my older brother and sister, who were often “responsible” for me while my Mom cooked or cleaned or talked on the phone or did whatever Mom-things she had to do. To my brother and sister, an explorer-adventurer who could not walk, run, jump, or really do much of anything was a problem. What to do?

One day, being pretty clever and resourceful kids, who still wanted to have adventures, my brother and sister decided to bring me down into the gully of our backyard where there was a small birdhouse mounted on the top of a sturdy pole. They knew that something lived in that birdhouse and they wanted to know what it was. They figured, being the brilliant eight and five years old they were, that throwing rocks at the birdhouse was the best way to find out what lived inside. I can’t disagree. Pretty good logic, actually. The part of the plan where I think foresight was lacking was they leaned me up against the pole so that I could play in the dirt and they could watch me. Brilliant! They began throwing rocks. Some of them must have hit.

As it turned out, it was bumblebees, very large and angry Texas bumblebees, that resided in that birdhouse and they were not happy their home was being pelted with rocks. They wanted it to stop, immediately. Some of the bumblebees, angry at the disturbance, left the birdhouse to communicate this “stop and decease” order but all they saw were two young kids, running as quickly as their little legs could carry them, yelling loudly. “Mom! Mom!” Oh wait! What is this? One of the participants remains! He must be a very brave and adventurous soul!

No, just a year old baby not yet able to walk playing innocently in the dirt beneath a birdhouse of bumblebees in the Texas suburbs. I got stung by ten bumblebees that day. My brother and sister – zero!