At the crack of dawn, tens of boys would rush to the Cannan Street Lake, fearlessly plunging their bare bodies into the icy cold water of the lake. I would be one of the first among these boys, up on Mt. Cardigan, smug afterwards that I got to wear the prize, a Polar Bear tie. We were freezing in the freezing New Hampshire winter water but it didn’t matter because we achieved the impossible, together. Every day for an entire month, we would have to wake up at the break of daw