I was not born in this place nor have I lived here my entire life. However, I have physically and mentally grown up here and thus, I am a creation designed by this place. I belong here. It is home.

To most, Big Moose Lake is a place only populated in the summer. A place where vacationers stay in a rented camp, never interacting with others, only to leave a week or two later for their houses far away. 

This could not be further from the truth. Although Big Moose Lake is generally inhabited only during the summer season, the history, connections, and relationships, that bond each family on the lake together, are so deeply engrained that not matter where we are, Big Moose Lake is never abandoned in the heart and mind. 

Our community and history is incredibly valuable here. My mother and father grew up spending their summers on the lake with their parents and making friends with the other local kids. They met and got married on the lake, had me and my brother, and now I am spending my summers with their friends’ sons and daughters, doing exactly what my parents did thirty years ago. Big Moose Lake is a timeless place, passing its love, traditions, and knowledge through the generations.

To be home is to know a place. I can pick out the distant whir of a motor boat and tell you exactly the type of engine, the kind of boat, and who it belongs to. I can drive my aluminum boat home in the blackest of nights and find my dock without a problem. I know exactly which way the wind blows and the direction the weather comes from. I know that a pure and simple magic emanates from every inch of this place, creating an allure that never fails to bring it’s people back. Most importantly, I know that where ever I physically live in this world, I will always be mentally grounded in that small piece of earth that is Big Moose Lake. I know I will always have a home.