62. International Neighbors

            As a nation we are blessed to have two wonderful neighbors that we may not always treat the way they deserve to be treated. Both, like us, are New World countries and products of a blend of European and native cultures. Mexico, while heavily influenced by the Spanish, strongly retains its native culture and its influence upon the United States is rich. Even someone like me with those strong English ties right back to the Mayflower is indelibly influenced by this beautiful tropical and desert country to the south from my shrimp burrito Father’s Day meal to my Mexican step abuelita Consuela. It’s inescapable and I, for one, wish to embrace it, not repudiate it and prevent its citizens from coming north with a ridiculous wall. The Mexican people are the hardest working, most generous, family oriented people that I have ever met. I can’t listen to all the negative commentary about Mexico and still justify a taco and margarita. Instead, I want another margarita and a Mariachi band.

            And to our north, right out my back door, is the wild and frozen North of Canada. The closest macro-brewery I live by is Kokanee of the Columbia Brewing Company in Creston, British Columbia. And you know by now that beer is important to me… More trade goes across the most peaceful international border in the world. Our cultures are also indelibly intertwined to the point that our accents are nearly indistinguishable. Almost all of our holidays are the same, even if they aren’t always shared on the same days. We share taigas and tundra and mountains and rivers and plains and lakes. While the French influence may dominate the culture of Canada like the Spanish does the United States, all three countries still have the influence of English, Spanish, and French cultures intertwining and overflowing our borders. North America is a beautiful continent that Americans should take pride in being a part of and I want to start by embracing my neighbors. I don’t want to be so insular that I forget to love Mexico and Canada. And then there are the Caribbean Islands…

61. Lake Champlain

Lake Champlain seems a world away and I sometimes even forget that it’s in my own country.  It rests beautifully just south of the Quebec border forming a great part of the boundary between New York and Vermont. The Green Mountains rise from its shores to the east and to the west is the expanse of the Adirondack Range.  On early summer days when it is cool I can imagine myself ferrying across it from somewhere in Vermont to somewhere in New York. The cerulean sky is mottled with puffy cotton like clouds with here and there a darker one threatening to rain on some distant shore. The breeze blows over my face sometimes lifting the bill of my hat so I finally have to turn it around to keep it from blowing away into these waters claimed by some crazy Frenchman several hundred years ago.

Again, the beauty of water somewhere in my country astounds me. I am drawn to Champlain differently than other bodies of water, though, because in so many ways it seems to be the birthplace of this country I love. I have no doubt that Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys spent many a day on the shores of this lake. And the U.S. Navy was born right there at Whitehall, New York. Several naval battles against the British were fought on these waters in the war of 1812 and the evidence is still being dredged up today. Naval battles on a lake you can always see the shore? Wow!

I have spent quite a few youthful summers on this lake’s shores. I have toured Fort Ticonderoga and almost every time I see yellow Ticonderoga pencils in the hands of a student my mind whisks me right back to that lake. I often go to lakes and seaside bays when I can’t get away physically but my mind necessitates that I do. And what would one expect of a boy born on the shores of a lake and raised in the canyon of rushing waters? And so Lake Champlain is one of those places in our country that I am thankful for.