The Bee

This is an addendum to my most recent article, Resurrection vs. Reincarnation. Please continue to share your stories or thoughts about life after death. I’ve been intrigued by all of them!

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My husband’s father’s name was Robert, but everyone called him Bob. When Pat was a teenager, when he wasn’t calling him “Dad”, Pat took to calling his father “B”.

Pat’s father died of a sudden heart attack over Thanksgiving weekend in 1999. Because he lived a significant amount of his life in both Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, the family chose to have a showing in both cities, which moved the actual funeral Mass in Columbus back several days, to December third.

It was a cold morning. I remember shivering as Pat and I walked from our parked car to the doors of St. Andrew Catholic Church where the funeral Mass was being held.

Though winter didn’t officially begin until December 21 that year, I have always considered December first to be the start of winter. It certainly felt like winter to me! (Okay, I looked online and found out that the high temperature in Columbus that day was 57 degrees and the low was 46. Sure, not that cold, but I get cold easily.)

As we walked, a bee – yes, a bee! – began harassing me. Stalking me as I walked, buzzing around my head. It was irritating. Why was a bee even alive in December? And why was it only bothering me?

I had to maintain a certain level of decorum in dealing with this bee. I was at a funeral after all. I couldn’t start screaming, yelling, and running around in a frenzy to thwart the bee’s peculiar interest in me. But I couldn’t help but swipe my arms occasionally to keep the bee away. Despite my efforts, the pesky bee continued to annoy me until we finally reached the church doors. Thankfully, the bee did not follow us in.

A few hours after the funeral service, I thought about the bee. Maybe Pat’s dad, B, was trying to tell me something through the bee. Maybe he had actually become a bee to let me know that he was still around. I have to admit, though, that if he had been trying to send me a message, it escaped me. I do believe to this day that that bee was a sign of Bob Foley’s presence outside the church.

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I just learned that it is not that uncommon for a bee to leave its hive in Ohio in December. (I continue to be amazed at what you can find out online.) It is usually because they’re fooled by the sun and think there may be pollen for them outside the hive, they’re hungry and their hive is out of honey; they need water; or they have to go to the bathroom. (Again, new information. Who knew that bees went to the bathroom and that they were considerate enough to leave their hive to do so?! Don’t you feel better about the honey you eat now?)