I am here today to celebrate the great waters of the Great Lakes by participating in the 24 Hour Relay, which is sponsored by GLOW (Great Lakes Open Water Adventures) and they are supporting the Great Lakes Trust which is here to bring awareness to these amazing shared waters. We live in the United States, we travelled here last night to participate, this is our second year and I’m all for bringing awareness to how valuable these lakes are and how fragile, absolutely fragile they are and we need to protect them because they’re not just for us now, they’re for generations to come. So I’m happy, my husband and I are participating in the Relay, it’s a beautiful day and we’re here with our friends, community and we’re meeting people and just being in the Water and that’s why we’re here today.

I think the Atlantic Ocean and primarily the South Jersey Shore is my favourite body water is because as a child it’s where I spent most of my time with my family during the summers. I remember my mom teaching me how to swim in the Ocean and teaching me how to jump waves and loving the ocean and the movement of the Ocean and the safety it can provide, respecting also its power and the nature of it. Learning the love the Ocean and take care of it, I think that’s why I love it so much.

I think one of my favourite general moments by the water has always been, whether I was a child, or an adult or an adolescent, with my family or by myself, was that magic moment when the sun is setting and it has that warm golden glow and you’re by the Ocean. Usually by the afternoon it’s settled down just a tiny bit and you can hear the small waves crashing and it’s just quiet and helps to really quiet your soul and lead you to think about just how great it is and how luck and blessed that it is that we have these magnificent waters on our earth that give us life. I think that’s my favourite time of the day and I like to be by the water when that happens.