I really loved the farm and country house my parents moved us to when I was four.

But thing I really hated was how wasps would creep in through the leaky windows.

I would find them in my bedroom in all sort of places.

And once I slipped my foot into my shoe, only to find that there was someone in it already, and the wasp promptly stung me. Lousy way to start the day, and something you don’t forget.

It was at least 12 years after I moved to Boston for college and lived in cities before I stopped banging my shoes upside down on the floor before putting them on.

It only takes a single time to imprint certain cautions, and a wasp in your shoe is one of them.

(A photo by Anders Qvicker, via Pixabay)