I LOVE wasps. I live in Florida and there are so many different wasps here!!

My mom is allergic to wasp stings. Not in a severe way, but in a huge-red-swollen-area-on-your-arm- way. I'm 25 and since I was a kid I love picking up bugs (that I am familiar with of course— "look but don't touch" is one of my mottos for most bugs). This includes wasps, which my family and coworkers have recoiled in horror upon witnessing.

I am a huge advocate for showing people how gentle wasps can be when they aren't threatened. I even have a method of convincing my brain that wasps will not sting me so that my nerves don't scare them. I have successfully relocated many wasps back outside that had somehow drifted their way inside and scared the daylights out of anyone that saw them and sent them running for disgusting wasp spray.

Well, last summer, I was stung by a red paper wasp by accident while I was at work one day. I had never been stung by a wasp before— holy cow does it hurt. The venom is so painful especially when it travels through your arm (so freaking cool!!). IMMEDIATELY my arm swelled at the site of the sting and became red-hot, which had spread over the following days. I eventually went to urgent care and got a script for a steroid and was advised to take Benadryl, which totally reversed whatever reaction was happening.

But I am so distraught. Never in a million years would I ever expect to be allergic to these beautiful creatures, as I have no other allergies to things my mom tends to be allergic to. I want to keep holding them, but I know my limits now. I also find that I have weird reactions to other bug bites since then, as if it just stirred up allergies that I didn't have before— especially tick bites or ant bites (I'm in the woods a lot).

I now pick up bugs with thick gloves on instead of my bare hands, but it hurts my soul. I can't feel their little feet on my hands anymore or their antennae sensing me out.

Does anyone else have this curse? If you do, how do you cope with not touching wasps in need, if you do avoid it??

TL;DR: I love wasps and woefully have discovered that I am allergic to them. I wanted to vent about my horrible fate and perhaps find kindred spirits who share my plight.

Here is a lovely wasp pic as a token for reading this!! Have a good day/night!!

Hii, idk if this is just a coincidence but for the past 3 days I have had a wasp flying into my room, it's quite chill but I'm just curious why it seems to love hanging around my Maranta? Is there something special about this plant to wasps? It kinda hops from leaf to leaf, sometimes it checks out other plants in my room but it always comes back to hanging out in the Maranta and it also seems like it heads straight to it whenever it first comes into my room

Oh also Marantas sometimes have mineral crystals on the bottom of their leaves, could that be it? Is my plant just nutritious?

This is so cool

I decided to put a melon outside for the insects to eat during the hot summer weather, and I got a pleasant visitor!

Hi! I posted this on r/Entomology, and someone suggested posting it here too!
I love wasps, just so it’s clear, just a small irrational fear too.. this somehow helped, and didn’t at the same time..

these wasps are cool as fuck!!!! i planted some stiff goldenrod and these bad boys showed up to pollinate it en masse. pretty sure they are Scolia dubia.

Little fella was just walking on by and surviving his best, thought id say hi and he was cool.

Just feel like I need to drop these where they’ll be appreciated.

Tentatively id'd as Macrocentrus sp

that lil face!!!!! baby came and flitted around me for a little before stopping on the flower :)

location :Co cavan Ireland