Mary McKinney Schmidt

Fresh Water-Healthy Lives

Mary McKinney Schmidt
Writer and Great Lakes Advocate

Home
Home is worth fighting for. It is worth protecting

Boataholics

I have found boataholics to be

people of passion

for the Great

Lakes

. So, too, are

those who enjoy

fishing, swimming,

surfing, building

sandcastles, or just

walking the

beach. (Photograph courtesy

of Pat

Roehling.)

Stories Include:

Save the Lakes, Ban the Salties
Little Things Count in Selecting
Destination Ports

Deck Night

Many of my column ideas

for

The

Holland Sentinel

stemmed

from

“Deck Night” conversations.

As I

began to research the many

challenges facing the Great Lakes, I

found an interested audience among

those who gathered together on

Thursday evenings to watch the sun

slip below the Lake Michigan

horizon.

Stories include:

Is it Safe Building Sandcastles?
Painting All Colors of the Rainbow
Taking Political and Practical Action

Lighthouses

When one is caught in a storm,

nothing is more important than

scanning the horizon for a

lighthouse, finding a harbor that will

provide safety and refuge. This

section of the website is devoted to

lighthouses and other matters of

great importance.

Stories include:

Don't Let Boaters Runs Aground
Protect State's Heart and Soul

Heroes

he good new

is we know

democracy works. When people

take time to get informed and

involved, things happen!

Stories Include:

"Just a Smile"
"BP Story a WakeUp Call"
Quincy Elementary 4th Graders
Tackle Balloon Litter

Why this website?

The

goal of this website is to

encourage people to get

engaged

in prioritizing the clean up and

protection of Great Lakes waters.

For ideas on how best to get

involved,

see

Deck Night

Look for monthly updates the first

week of each month. The last

update

was

November 7,

2008.

See

"Painting All the Colors of the

Rainbow" under

Deck Night.

Also see

"Faith"

and "Tell Me the

Weight of

a Snowflake"

on th

Home Page

Spiritual Connection

gnoring the deteriorating state of

the Great Lakes would be like

turning my back on God

Stories

include "Recognizing a Spiritual

Connection to the Lakes. Also see:

Spring Wild Flowers at Sleeping
Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

To navigate this website, double-

click on

underlined phrases (some

are blue, some

black, some

purple) or select one of the

six

tabs across the top of each page.

If you have suggestions or

comments, please contact

mary@freshwaterhealthylives.org

From the upcoming

Book 1

aith

Like many in the baby boom generation, I pushed political involvement to

the background as I worked my way up the corporate ladder. Consumed

by a demanding job with an exhausting travel schedule, I had enough

difficulties balancing my role as a wife, daughter, sister, friend and

corporate executive without adding the pressures of community

involvement.

But a little voice deep within my soul began to emerge as the years slid by

and the job titles became more impressive, compensation more lucrative.

“This is not your life’s work,” the voice whispered, haunting my dreams

and invading the quiet, reflective time of early morning jogs.

As a child, I remember sitting at the dinner table surrounded by my five

siblings. My father, a university professor, owned the head of the table.

“You have a responsibility on this earth to make a difference,” he

instructed us.

At fifty-two years old, I heard his words again as I reflected on my 2

year

career with Baxter Healthcare. I was reporting directly to the corporation’

s Chairman and CEO, responsible for relationships with the leading

healthcare executives in the country. The thought of leaving the familiar,

comfortable and financially secure surroundings of corporate life was

terrifying.

“What is it I am meant to do?” I asked the universe.

But there were far too many distractions in such a fast-paced, high-

pressure job to hear any answer.

Writing the word “faith” on a tile I placed on the corner of my desk, I left

the roster of Baxter employees in December of 2004.

Void of titles and business cards, I struggled to maintain a sense of self-

worth. And after a career jammed with back-to-back meetings, phone

calls and flight schedules, the silence of the blank calendar pages was

deafening. Inwardly I cringed every time someone asked me what I was

“doing” now and suggested I was “far too young to retire.”

The only certainty in my quest for purpose was the overwhelming need to

live near the eastern shores of Lake Michigan.

“People don’t move north for the second half of their lives,” I was told

repeatedly by friends and neighbors in Nashville, TN, our home for almost

13 years.

But when I closed my eyes to envision my future, I could see the clear blue

waters of Lake Michigan stretching for miles. I could hear the waves

pounding the surf; feel my feet dig into the soft, white sand that stretched

from water’s edge to the dunes towering overhead; smell the freshness of

the pines, hemlocks, maples and oaks that pepper the forests of the

backdunes.

My husband and I moved to western Michigan in the spring of 2005.

Out of idle curiosity, I attended a public hearing that summer discussing

the health of the Great Lakes. A team of scientists, engineers, business

leaders, tribes and government agencies were reporting the results of a

study commissioned by President George W. Bush to assess one of the

country’s “national treasures.”

I sat, numb with horror, as I heard the coalition describe the deteriorating

state of Lake Michigan and the other four Great Lakes.

The ecosystem of the Great Lakes is at a tipping point, they reported. The

influx of aquatic invasive species, the frequency of sewage overflows,

toxic pollutants (such as mercury, PCBS and pesticides) found in nearby

soils and the loss of wetlands and other coastal habitat have placed the

ecosystem in grave danger. The damage could be irreversible if steps are

not taken immediately, the report concluded.

I was heartbroken.

“Faith is a bird that feels dawn breaking and sings while it is still dark,” a

remarkable woman named Alene Moris shared with me months later.

My lesson in faith had begun.

he light of dawn touched my cloudy future. My lesson in faith had begun.

Upcoming Books

Book 1 is a collection of essays and stories written by a woman in her mid-
fifties who walks away from a lucrative job reporting to the CEO of a
Fortune 100 Company believing her life’s work lies elsewhere. In a
position to live anywhere in the country, she and her husband move to
western Michigan. To her horror, she discovers scientists say decades of
damage to the Great Lakes ecosystem have put the waters of Lake
Michigan in peril. Book 1 answers her question, "what can I do to make a
difference?"
Book 2 details a woman's transition from Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons
Hotels to Lake Michigan campgrounds. An avid sailor for years on the
waters of Lake Michigan, she becomes intrigued by the dunes towering
ten to fifteen stories above the eastern shoreline. Packing a tent, hiking
shoes and her bike, she sets off alone to uncover what scientists call the
Great Lakes ecosystem. In the process, she discovers the magic of
Michigan.
Book 3 is a collection of humorous and reflective stories on life as seen
from behind the wheel of a 40' sailboat.