Great Lakes Breathing

I have lived along the banks of several estuaries in my time here on Earth. The difference between the great oceanic tides and the seiches produced by winds are also interesting because rather than salt water and freshwater mixing in these zones, the waters that mix are both fresh (non-saline) and that changes the character of the relationship between the bodies of water a great deal. Often the colder and more dense saltwater that intrudes into estuaries hugs the bottom and creeps upriver in relatively static waves, oscillating on a cycle with the position of the moon and her gravitational pull. where I come from, on the edge of the inland seas, wind drives the water levels and the intrusion of great Lakes water into estuaries that I am familiar with.
A friend, who lives on an Island in Lake Superior recently told me about a local lake on her island that has a spring fed lake upon it that intermittently gets additional water from Lake Superior depending on the strength, duration and direction of the wind. Water flows both ways along the outlet/inlet stream. This, she described as the lake breathing. Anyone who has spent time along the shores of any of the Great Lakes, and truly paid close attention to what they were experiencing knows that these vessels are alive. They live and breathe as surely as we do, just at a different pace and in a slightly different manner. These massive bodies of water eat (consume), excrete (empty), exchange gasses and reproduce themselves in mysterious ways. Not only are there the original progenitors, ancient beings who have been around through great spans of geologic time, but there are their children and grandchildren who live amongst us as our unique perspectives and relationships, chips as one might say off the old blocks. Whatever we think of when the term great Lakes is the product of our life bumping up against them and how we have become one with and generated our image is intimate and in a unique pairing becomes a living organism in and of itself.
For better and worse, we often forget that we are partners in the recreation of the lakes. The procreation of  future generations of each of them depends on our participation. My own intimate knowledge about these five jewels spread out across Northern North America has spawned a lifetime of struggle, trying to put to words just who they are, just how much they mean to me and just how much we have lost through ignoring the bounty which they hold, if we would just quiet ourselves enough to listen, we can hear their voices, understand some of their great gifts and understand that they create us just as we help create them.