Bees and Honey

We moved to 'Our House' May 30, 1969, the day before my honey, Kari, was born. We were so excited to be moving out of Des Moines and onto an acreage. In addition to the roomy old farm house, we had a two car garage attached to the house via an enclosed breezeway, a chicken house and an old barn. All this on 80 acres with the nearest neighbors a quarter mile away.
The house still stands on the east side of the indoor golf dome east of Cutty's off hwy 141 north of Urbandale. The barn was taken down and used in building the carpenter's shop at Living History Farms.
Kari was a stubborn little lass - I was already 19 days past my due date. I so wanted a May baby, but it didn't look like I was going to get one. The next morning after moving, we went back to clean the apartment and turn the keys in. Around 1 p.m., I started having 'twinges', but nothing like regular contractions. That had changed by 3:00 and we called Dr. Overton's service only to discover he was out of town. (It was a Saturday.) We were told to go to the hospital while they notified Dr. Donna Drees, the on-call physician.
Once Kari decided to make her debut, she didn't waste time. By the time we made it to Mercy Hospital I was only in a room long enough to be prepped before they took me to the delivery room. Kari Leigh Fleming was born at 4:17 p.m., May 31, 1969. My May baby made it with a few hours to spare.
Not only was she stubborn about being born, Kari was also a very independent baby - she did not want to be held, preferring to be put to bed with a bottle instead of being held and rocked to sleep. I've always believed this was because of the way I treated her in utero. Early in my pregnancy, I almost miscarried and had to stay in bed for two weeks. The doctor warned me that if I even so much as spotted again I would have to quit work and stay in bed if I wanted to carry to term. I did have more spotting, but I did not think we could afford for me to quit work so I never told anyone. Therefore, I did not allow myself to love the baby I was carrying thinking I would lose it. Even after I went past my due date, I was afraid something would go wrong during the birth. I don't remember her crying and when I first saw her, she was very blue. It seemed I had been right not to let myself become attached to her. Little wonder she didn't want anything to do with me!
But all was well and a few days later we took her home. School was not out for the summer yet, so it was just the two of us amid all the unpacked boxes. Mid-morning of our second day home while she was sleeping, I walked down the lane to get the mail. I could hear a very loud droning noise, but could not see what was causing it. As I started back to the house I looked up into a black cloud of honey bees. All I could think of was they were going to swarm on me and sting me to death and my baby would be alone all day. I kept walking very slowly back to the house and the bees settled into a hollow tree nearby.
Forty years have passed. I'm not sure about the bees, but I'm grateful every day for my little honey.