I have always loved Rivers. The sound of a river, the movement, the smells. . . to be near a river is heaven to me. Growing up in Michigan, I was aware of the Great Lakes, and spent most of water time on Lakes, especially Lake Michigan.
I had heard stories and the history of the Mississippi River from the time I learned to read — the great East/West dividing line of our Nation. I heard a song by the Indigo Girls called Ghost as a teenager, stating “and the Mississippi’s mighty; but it starts in Minnesota, at place where you can walk across with five steps down” . .. and that always surprised and intrigued me poetically. I never thought my life would twist and turn and have me living and working so near the Mississippi River, and it’s headwaters. Life here incorporates that River, it feeds our lakes, it guides our migratory birds, it stays unfrozen in the winter as it feeds into our frozen lakes. Every day I drive by it, living in Bemidji, every day I hear about it, think about, am nurtured by it and the life it provides. Living near the Headwaters of such a mighty river, has led me to intimately understand how precious water is and fight to protect it from pipeline spills, pollution run off, over building on its banks. To know how intimately connected the bogs are to the water, the wetlands, the rivers, the lakes… all feeding into each other. Whatever happens here in Northern Minnesota, will travel downstream to Louisiana and affect so many others. It is a great responsibility to remember that in all things.
I have swam in the Mississippi, I have canoed down it, tubed in it, sat next to it on its banks and watched it flow, driven past it, driven over it and even walked across the place where it starts in Lake Itasca State Park. It is a privilege and honor to have done all these things for the past 18 years, and to love such a River and such a place.