One of my most vivid and cherished memories as a parent is from mere days into the beautiful ordeal. Three days after my oldest was born, we decided to make our maiden voyage as a family—to get beignets. The Coffee Call drive-thru felt approachable, and the fried and sugar-dusted treats were too much to resist.

Upon arriving home, we sat down, not sure what to do—the same way I like to think most new parents behave. While my husband made our breakfast presentable, I placed my son into his bassinet and turned on some music. “Honeybee” by The Head and the Heart was first on the queue. And it has been burned in my mind ever since.

On rainy days or times when handling my boys feels especially challenging, I go back to this memory. In so many ways, it was perfect. And it only gets better with time, as memories tend to.

As sweet as that memory is, though, it is tinged with an undercurrent of fear. Fear of navigating our new world as parents. Fear of caring for a newborn. Fear of exhaustion, sleep deprivation and, especially, of capturing and remembering every moment of it.

Fear, of course, has a negative connotation. We don’t want to be scared. But, oftentimes, it’s the push we need to unlock a new world, to understand new perspectives, and to enjoy our lives more than we ever thought possible.

When one of our cover subjects, bee enthusiast Kevin Langley, invited the inRegister editorial staff to meet his hives at the Tam Bao Meditation Center, I was excited, but I was also nervous. I love the idea of bees, but getting up close and personal, well, I wasn’t sure.

For the sake of this magazine and all of you, and maybe a little bit for my own curiosity, I sucked it up and went enthusiastically into the buzzing unknown. And, let me tell you, I am glad I did.

My favorite memory from the afternoon of holding hives is a quiet one of sitting at a table, watching as dozens of bees buzzed calmly in front of me. Sipping my glass of mead, I felt truly at peace, despite the fear that lingered in the back of my mind—just like that morning over beignets.

Not to equate coexisting with honeybees to parenting. But you get what I mean.

When faced with these situations that scare us, we have the option to turn away, run or even swat. But, what I’ve learned, and I’m sure many of you have too, is that fear is simply the invitation to dig deeper. Not always, of course. But in some situations, absolutely.

As someone said at some point, “Nothing good comes easy.” And ain’t that the truth? At least that’s what I’m telling myself as I conclude what feels like the 30th bedtime story and write this letter in the Notes app on my phone.

So here’s to fear. Here’s to facing it. And here’s to so many more sweet memories.