Bzzzzzzzzz!

The Fall is and always will be my favorite time of the year but I also enjoy the springtime. I don't know if it's because we are coming out of really cold weather and we can start wearing short sleeves, shorts, etc. or not. I love the smell of fresh cut grass (which, by the way, did you know that Yankee Candle used to have a fragrance of fresh cut grass? not sure if they still do or not). I love the smell of the flowers in bloom. There are many Bradford Pear trees all around where I work and they are so beautiful when they start to bloom. But as much as I love the spring and summer I hate it all at the same time. I even loathe it at times. Why? Because of those stinking bugs!

Now before I start on this I have to say that I do enjoy being outside. I love to go hiking. I love to sit and watch outside sports. I love going to the beach or pool and just lay out and have fun. I do enjoy this time of year but I have a huge, HUGE phobia of wasps. In reality, I have a fear of all things with stingers. I can't stand the buzzing in my ear when something flies by. When I see a wasp or one of those big fat bumble bees I totally freeze...or run screaming. It's very embarrassing. Why God made me this way, I'll never know. I don't even know why I have this fear because I've never been stung by anything, knock on wood. But it's there and it can be so paralyzing, like when I drive through fog, but that's a whole other blog...or therapy session. :) I won't even drive with my windows down or my sunroof open because I'm afraid that a wasp will fly in while stopped at a red light. How sad is that?!

Would you also believe that if a fly comes flying past me very quickly that my heart will start to go in arrhythmia? It's true. When I was about 3 or 4 years old our family lived in a rural town called Johnsonville, IL. We lived in the country in a small two bedroom one bath home. I was in the restroom taking care of business when I look up and in the corner a see something big and black buzzing around in the corner of the ceiling. I immediately start to freak out because, for one, its huge. I then proceed to run to the door with my pants and all around my ankles. I turn the knob and the door won't open. I've locked the door and I guess in my panic mode as a 4 year old I don't know how to unlock the door. I started pounding and kicking the door while screaming at the top of my lungs. My parents come running to the door because, well, I'm screaming like I've cut off my left toe or my eye has just fallen out of my head. They finally get me calmed down long enough to tell me how to unlock the door. When I finally get the door open, I proceed to tell them that I was just about attacked by a bug on steroids. My mom goes into the bathroom to see what it was and starts to laugh. Not just a chuckle but the woman is laughing hysterically because it was only a fly. A HUGE fly but still, a fly. To this day, my family still makes fun of me for this but I don't care. I was traumatized severely for almost being eaten alive by a fly.

There is no doubt in my mind that this event attributed greatly to my fear of things with wings and stingers. As much as I feared that fly that day I have an even greater fear of wasps. I have no idea why either. I have no story to tell about wasps. I just fear them. During the summer for some reason the wasps come out at my church. There is always at least one or two that are flying around the ceiling and you better believe that I know where they are and I follow them with my eyes. It's hard to concentrate on the sermon when I know those wasps are flying around just waiting for the perfect moment to swoop down and attack me. There was the one time a few weeks ago when I was on the stage singing with the praise team and I spot this wasp at the back of the church and watch him fly up the aisle like he owned the place and I swear he was heading right for me. I grabbed the girl who was standing next to me and I said, "If I faint, just leave me there until the wasp is gone." It's so humiliating.

I guess it's okay though. That's what makes life exciting, huh! :)

Happy Thursday!