Lake Superior, ON

My name is Sue Hamel. The name of my waterbody is Lake Superior.

Lake Superior is important, as again I think I’ve mentioned once before, as the lifeblood of this continent. And for me, its such an important place to be protecting, connecting and providing for the future generations in as close to a pristine state as we can for the future of not just our species but all the greater community which calls it home.

I think before when I was thinking about that question I was thinking about really exciting ones that really stood out and ones that had me feeling either really exhilarated or really powerful and all the kind of more extreme emotions. I think as I ponder more on that question, I think what's maybe another question is how has the relationship been developed over time. I think it's yea it's with some of those extreme emotions but just like a relationship with anything else its also in the silence and in the everyday. And I think for me, my mind went to all these amazing things and to the different seasons and the ice the snow and the big swells in the front of a sailboat and paddling and all those powerful ones, but, what I think is actually even more powerful when I think about it is the everyday and what it does to feed me and my soul and my community and my family and all the other species that collectively call it home.

I think that how it continues to bring the sacred back in the every day is just being by its shores and the soothing nature of what it gives us I think universally I think no matter what your culture is but certainly the Anishinaabe people for time immemorial have come to know that and are reminding us of that and I think for me I think I sometimes even underestimate the role it plays in my life in the every day and I think I seek a lot of gifts from that lake every day that I think I don’t even notice. I think that to me are the memories I think that makes me who I am today.

Not to mention that they say about 70 percent give or take of our hydration level are of water and so when I look at that I think more of me is Lake Superior than not and I think that's also a fun thing to think about.