Ezra discovered a nest of yellow jackets on Friday night.  I was in the middle of doing an outdoor wedding rehearsal when I heard Crystal & both kids screaming & running toward me.  At first, I thought they were playing, but then I saw the look of terror on all of their faces and understood the word “BEES!”  I ran to him, swept him up and started stripping off his clothes and swatting bees while running him to the van to get him as far away from the swarm as possible.

I vividly remember playing with my Kentucky cousins as a kid and accidentally stepping in a yellow jacket nest.  Somehow they knew it was me.  Even running through the tobacco fields to knock them off me proved useless…I got stung 17 times that day and I’ll never forget how terrified I was.

I kept thinking about how my dad rescued me from the bees that day as I told Ezra over and over, “Its gonna be okay, you’re gonna be okay.”  Ezra got stung 8 times…they were in his pants, in his shirt, even burrowed in his hair.  I swear, if the kid knew how to cuss, he would’ve.  He was sad, he was mad…he was screaming “leave me alone, you mean bees!”

Bee stings with kids can be scary, but Ezra was quite the trooper.  We got him settled down, and thankfully, he didn’t have any reactions.  And the next day at the wedding, he championed his story of survival to everyone who would listen.

My kid’s tough…I’m proud of him and I’m thankful he’s okay.  And so far this week, Ezra has assisted in the execution of 7 wasps in our backyard…he is a man on a mission.