Oak's Analogy of Bees: Stages of Trouble.

[oak]

Hi friends.

I offer you my working theory on trouble coming, using my recent experience with bees, as an example:

Bee stage 0: There are no bees.

Bee stage 1: Multiple bees are congregating outside my window.

Bee stage 2: Individual bees are trickling into my apartment, one by one*

Bee stage 3: A swarm of bees is inside the house.

Another example, and taking this further

Now I take this a step further with another example from this past week, with indicated action in italics:

Bee stage 0: My car is running fine.

Action indicated: No action is indicated.

Bee stage 1: My car took five tries to start** after a long day of work Thursday night. I can't walk home and I have no money for a Uber home if the car hadn't started. My estranged family won't pick me up. Longer term, I have no savings to repair this even if I can get me and the car home.

Action indicated: Immediately begin applying for an interviewing for remote positions. Currently, my ability to have shelter and eat is dependent on having transportation. This is enormously risky. Also, begin an emergency savings fund as soon as I can.

Bee stages 2 and 3: I don't even want to think about that, honestly. It has been a long week.

Two concluding thoughts

Many situations do not progress past Stage 1. But we can't expect the bees not to come inside. Hope is not a strategy. I brought this to the attention of the diligent apartment complex manager who promised to order a prompt spraying. I have seen zero bees since. (But that doesn’t mean there are no bees. But I can’t leave in fear, either.)

I may, now and then, refer to and link to this "bee theory" in future posts. Thanks for listening!


*This is as far as the actual bee situation got this week, thank heaven.

**Though it did start, thank heaven. This situation has bees written all over it.

Edit to add:

Upon reflection, my car taking five tries to start is clearly Bee Stage 2. Stage 3, which is When The Wheels Have Fallen Off, is perilously close!

[Mental Fairy]

Gosh Oak, what’s weird is it’s winter here and this morning I’m cooking away in the kitchen for the week ahead. I opened my baking cupboard and a big bee flew out!!! Immediately I got the giggles and said I think Oak sent me a bee. I swiftly let him out the kitchen window before my husband turned him into a wall painting.