How did it all start?

As I sit here sipping chai tea with the late afternoon winter sun light waning through my front windows, it is very difficult to imagine the humming of honey bees.  I look through the cold panes of glass and find a white frozen tundra. The wind chill today is negative nine degrees. This winter of 2013/2014 reminds me of winters during my childhood, where snow drifts pile on the roads higher than your car and the schools have frequent closings.   The school in my district is having its sixteenth snow day today!  Yet, for the last three weeks all I can think about are bees, Honey Bees!   It was around that same time when I picked up a quart of honey from a local beekeeper and admired it's color, consistency and flavor.  I've been purchasing honey from her for the last few years but this quart inspired me. Inspired me to think, "Maybe I could have my own honey bees."   I have childhood memories of my father in our kitchen slicing off the cappings on the frame of comb with a  long kitchen knife.  He kept bees for ten years.  I wish I had paid more attention back then.   Those thoughts and memories, coupled with this long, harsh winter and thoughts of  bees pollinating my perennials and vegetable garden  sent me scurrying to the library. I checked out all the books they had on the subject of beekeeping, all three. The other library near us had none! I told them what I thought about that.  The books I checked out  were, Keeping Bees by Ashley English, Get Started in Beekeeping by Adrian and Claire Waring and Robbing the Bees by Holley Bishop. These, as books do, only fed my  interest and had me yearning for more. I began reading blogs on beekeeping, ordered catalogs of local suppliers (Dadant, Mann Lake Ltd., Walter T. Kelley Co. and Buggsnest), found Michigan bee keeping clubs, had discussions with local beekeepers, became a member of the Michigan Bee Association and signed up for the MBA spring conference at Michigan State University.   Most importantly, I ordered bees.  The receipt for them came today in the mail.  I was so excited!  They will arrive the first week in May.  Unsure on the availability of Michigan bee packages or Michigan Nucs, I ordered them with hardware (a deep and a super) off of Craig's List no less.  Al Haarsma has been beekeeping for the past 25 years and was very patient with my multiple emails and questions about the honey bees he had for sale. I appreciate all his input and helpful beekeeping information. The bees are Italian and will be coming from Florida, twelve to fifteen pounds of bees!  A little frightening yes, but my excitement in being a witness to a working colony outweighs the fear. I can't wait to identify the queen,  see eggs and brood in the cells, observe the different capping and predict which job each bee will have, watch them work in my garden, see them carry pollen back to the hive.  I suppose I could go on and on but I won't.  I have high hopes but also realistic expectations.  Of the beekeepers I've spoken with, all have lost over half of their colonies this winter, and spring seems far off, even though only three weeks  away on the calendar.  I've read of Foulbrood, Nosema, Varroa mites and Colony Collapse Disorder. I realize beekeeping is a gamble, but this is one gamble I'm willing to take.   My kids and husband think I have gone a little bee crazy, but I think they'll catch bee fever too.