I received the above touching thank you card from my neighbors. The card came with a plate full of freshly made banana bread (delicious). Their 2.5 year old helped make both the card and bread. I just about broke into tears when I got this. These are the sweet neighbors whose roof I had just augmented to get the bees out. Not only did they remain very calm and receptive to my explanations of bee behavior and proposed plans, they are actually now thinking about starting their own hive. Dipak says we create our own luck. I don’t see it. I’m seeing luck as an extremely fortunate circumstance that just randomly occurs. Like having super cool neighbors. We did not interview anyone before hand. We just moved in.

The honeybees brought much to light for me. Many friends stepped in to give great advice, possible solutions and contact information for other helpful beekeepers. I plugged into a broad community of bee people that were willing to talk me through my inexperience. Afterwards, I received many calls to follow up. Even at the greatest moment of chaos when the bees where agitated and swirling around the roof and me, there were positive comments and support coming from people walking by. The bees gave me an opportunity to feel the character of my neighborhood. Honeybees and their social structure provide a beautiful metaphor for community. In this case they actually brought people together and revealed a way of relating that was peaceful and generous.