The peace of it all

Early May is a great time to be at Otter Lake. There’s still a cool chill in the air and small snowbanks linger in the shady areas. The tourists haven’t arrived yet so traffic is nonexistent, and the trees and plants are just beginning to wake up. It almost seems like you can hear them taking a big yawn after a long winter and begin stretching for the sun.

It’s a perfect peacefulness that is so difficult to find these days amid our digital world and constant bombardment with instant messaging and social media. Nature is such a contrast to our modern technologies — never looking to speed up or process more data — but just to slowly go about its business. To exist on its own clock. To just be.

If you walk in the woods and listen you can hear so much that we typically just drown out with too many voices. When the loudest noise is the crunching of the leaves under your feet, you are a lucky soul.

I always cherish these days, and the way I feel recharged by the quiet renewal of the seasons. I feel close to my ancestors who spent their lives here, creating a life out of the raw beauty of these lands and waters. I can still feel their presence, even those who passed on before I was born into this world.

Happy May Day or, for the Finns out there, Hyvää Vappua! Let us enjoy the peace of it all.