Time Line | Belfast, ME | 2011
In 1962, Alice babysat us kids, cleaned house and did laundry. I remember watching her one afternoon as she gathered billowing white sheets from the backyard clothesline. Wasps from a nearby nest flew in a frenzy around her. She’d unpin a corner and then swat frantically as they dive-bombed. Amazingly, she avoided getting stung until she brought the big basket inside and shook out the sheets. Folded in the fabric were angry wasps that attacked her hands and face. Her lesson came later. “God made wasps to do what they do and gave us brains to deal with ’em,” she said, spreading toothpaste over the swollen areas. “Remember, a sting hurts how much you let it hurt.”
IrwinFoto 