My Watermark is Lake of the Woods, Ontario.

I grew up in Thunder Bay, but I've always had a cabin on Lake of the Woods. I'm not a typical tbay gal that says "goin to camp"; I go to the cottage and I'm damn proud of it. Kenora and the beautiful Lake of the Woods is where I spent my summers from before I can even remember. Mom and Dad would pack up me and my brother and drive us to k-town for the 2.5 months we had off from school.

My grandparents lived there also so it has the memory of them attached to the lake. I caught my first fish on Lake of the Woods, learned to drive a boat far before I learned to drive a car, had my first kiss on that same boat floating in the yacht club stretch, skinny dipped for the first time with cottage friends, to name a few. Almost all of my 'firsts' growing up are attached to the lake.

Now that I'm older, I think it means even more to be able to come back to the same place that has always grounded me and made me truly feel at home. The lake is honestly my happy place; buildings can be rebuilt and replenished but unfortunately waterbodies cannot and that is something I'm not willing to risk. The value of this lake is far beyond basic human needs and I can bet that there are many others that feel the same way.