Mothers and yellow jackets

I have many thoughts about mothers today, but one memory in particular stands out. During one summer in my mid-teens, I went with my family to Silver Creek Falls, a state park in Oregon with miles of trails to several beautiful water falls. As we hiked along the trails, we took a small path through fallen trees and bushes down to the creek to see if we could find any crawdads. On the way back to the trail, my brother, sister, and I inadvertently stepped on a rotten log as we walked along the path. By the time my mother, little sister, and father came along, there was a cloud of insects swarming over the log. They thought the insects were mosquitoes. As they walked through the swarm, they discovered that the insects were actually yellow jackets who had come out of their nest in the log to defend their home.

The yellow jackets immediately attacked, stinging all three people. My father let out a loud whoop, yanked out his white hanky, and swatted yellow jackets as he ran at top speed up the trail to get away from bees. My mom, on the other hand, grabbed my little sister and carried her away from the nest as fast as she could. Along the way, she flicked bees off my sisters body with no regard for the bees that were crawling under her own clothes and stinging her. As soon as they got away from the nest, my mother stripped my sister to her underwear so that she could get at the bees that were still stinging my sister. She used her bare hands to comb the bees out of my sister's hair. It wasn't until after she had rid my sister completely free of yellow jackets that she realized there were yellow jackets in her own clothes and hair, too. And still, as she killed the yellow jackets that were stinging her, she took breaks to comfort and calm my screaming little sister.

For years us kids would laugh about the spectacle of seeing my father yelping, jumping, and waving a white hanky as he ran up the trail. It wasn't until many years later, though, that I came to fully appreciate the other half of the story, the way my mother determinedly fought and killed the yellow jackets that were tormenting her child without any regard for her own pain and wellbeing. On this mother's day, I honor all mothers for their courage and devotion to their offspring, and particularly my mother and her sacrifices for me and my siblings.