I had hoped to sit down and write about some of my experiences with Kate, but I have found it so hard to do. In part, I think it has been so difficult because the three months I spent in Patagonia with Kate shaped and changed me so much that I'm not sure how to describe the experience accurately.

Kate was such a cool girl. It may sound trite, but it's true. She had a strong sense of self and a take-no-crap attitude which made me admire her even more. Two of my favorite Kate memories include hysterical laughter- even now. The first happened shortly after the course began. We were in the same tent group. In the middle of the night, someone's very loud snoring woke me up. In my sleepy confusion, I assumed the snorer was whomever was sleeping next to me, so I flat out pushed them to rollover. It was Kate, she woke up and asked me what I was doing. When I explained that I was trying to stop the snoring, she pointed out in a very good-natured way that we could still hear it. We ended up laughing so hard that we woke up our other tent mates.

The second memory is from the kayaking section, a little later. It was cold, and it was raining-certainly nothing unusual about that except that we had a major open water crossing ahead of us. The whole group pulled out onto an island before the crossing to discuss strategy. Kate and I scarfed down handfuls of hard candy and ended up with a major sugar high. Half an hour later, with the crossing behind us, I looked over to see Kate asleep in her boat! I laugh about it to this day.

I admire Kate a lot and I think about her often. I hope you know that you and the rest of your family are in my heart. Please don't hesitate to call or write.

With love,

Sarah