I have spent many days on the lake taking water samples and water quality data. Scooting around the lake on my moped gives me an opportunity to know the vastness of the lake and the diversity of its people.
Hiking Little Sugarloaf and Goose Pond has been a great escape, including hiking with families as I led the program “Hiking through the Water Cycle”; teaching the group about the water cycle as we hiked through a small part of the watershed.
Throughout the hike, I wondered whether my small friends would retain the processes and workings of the water cycle. I was surprised at the end of the hike; everyone learned about the water cycle. Every kid was confident with their words and description of the water cycle. It’s not my greatest accomplishment, but it gave me a deep sense of fulfillment to be able to pass on the importance of water to our future leaders.
Every additional moment I spend admiring the lake, its animals; I grow attached to it. Beauty lies in the beholder of the eyes and I have seen this lake in all its colors. On bright sunny days, when the lake echoes with sounds of motorboats and the people of Newfound, the lake invites me to backflip into its cool waters. Thunderstorms spent on the lakefront humble me. I am in love with this lake, as well as scared of the potential energy it holds. I know,if I was out in the middle of the lake, she would engulf me. On calm cloudy days when the lake is still, much like the mind of a meditating monk, the lake helps me navigate my inner world. It helps me find myself. A newfound sense of I. Words cannot express the dynamic weather of New England. It pours, it shines, it warms and it chills simultaneously. Like a human being, living, breathing, telling me I am alive.
The NLRA is a newfound cohort of coworkers, mentors and cool people. Once a group of strangers, they have now become friends and the lake I was once oblivious to has become a vessel that holds a part of me. The journey is just beginning as I familiarize myself with the depths of a lake newfound to me, coincidentally called Newfound Lake. As the people of Bristol, Alexandria, Hebron and the surrounding towns become mine. An outlander in this part of the world; I am learning to breathe its air and speak its tongue.