Over the next few weeks I plan to post about some very special people – people who have participated in the Hustle up the Hancock with me, and people who intend to participate with me this year… And I hope to tell you some of the special reasons why they join me…
First, I’m going to tell you about the very special little string of numbers above…
In 2002, on March 7 – the day Kari would have turned 19 – a package was delivered from Kari’s Mom, Lisa. It contained a poem by a beautiful friend of Kari’s named Jenn – and a “Happy 19th Birthday to your Lungs!” card. It also contained a special t-shirt that was created by Kari’s volleyball teammates in memory of Kari. “Kari-ing on the Tradition” is across the top of the shirt, with “Algona Volleyball” under their bulldog mascot. And Kari’s number, 13, is memorialized within a volleyball on the left sleeve. It’s one of my most prized possessions and I wear that shirt whenever I participate in an athletic event like the Hustle. I always duplicate that 13 and the volleyball on the sleeves of my “Kari’s Klimbers” team shirts.
In 2004, Kari’s Mom connected me with the precious friend who wrote the poem, Jenn – Jenn blogs with us at Revive Hope now, but I’ll never, ever forget the first email I got from her when Jenn told me she wanted to run with Kari again… In February, 2005, we hugged for the first time and Jenn has climbed the last three Hustle’s with me… I’ll get to see Jenn and her sister Kathryn later in the year, but she’s taking a pass this year to let me spend more time with some of Kari’s friends I haven’t yet met…
Things just blossomed from there. I had briefly met Alex when we met Kari’s family. Kari’s Mom sent Alex a link to my first climb while she was at University of Northern Iowa and she pledged me way too much for a college student, and we began exchanging emails. She lives about 40 miles from me now and works with special needs adults doing recreational therapy. Alex has climbed the Sears and Hancock with me the past few years…
I met Katie a few years ago, and she climbed the Hancock with me last year for the first time. She’s bubbly and beautiful and crazy and makes me smile like the rest of ‘em… I posted a little about that climb here - and there is a wonderful picture of Katie, Jenn and Alex in that post! I was supposed to meet Wendy last year, but our weather was insane in both Iowa and Illinois.
This year, weather and schedules and other events permitting, I’ll get to meet Wendy, Samara and Kelly…
Kari was a powerful middle-hitter on her Algona High School volleyball team – she wore #13. This year, #12, #8, #7, #3 and #2 – Katie, Wendy, Alex, Samara and Kelly – five of Kari’s volleyball teammates are coming out from Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois to be with me, and climb with me…
Can you imagine what my heart felt like the first time I hugged Jenn? The first time I hugged Alex and Katie? Can you imagine what my heart feels like when I’m surrounded by her friends? When I’m surrounded by people who loved Kari, and who Kari loved?
Here are links to our Hustle pages: Katie, Wendy, Alex, Samara and Mine… Kelly is not climbing – She’s cheering us on and in charge of the tailgate party.
I think Jenn and Kathryn and Alex and Katie have an idea about how I feel about life… I hope Wendy, Samara and Kelly will too… I hope they understand how I feel about their friend… And about them too…
About our climb: www.ClimbingForKari.org
In the next few weeks I’ll tell you about Anne and Jen and Eve and Susan and John and Megan and my cousins and so many others… I do this climb to honor Kari and her family. I hope I show that organ donors, and their families are our heroes, and so are the people who help make it happen. And to me - so are the people who surround me when I do this...
