KT Man,
We’re putting the hats on sale today and I have a dream that one day, we’ll be walking down the street and run into people wearing it: your KT hat. The famous logo with your initials and five big words: Athlete. Authentic. Collaborative. Curious. Generous. Some will have them from personal experience. Your friends. Our family. Others will know someone who knows someone: It’s a stylish lid and the colors go with anything. Your hat looks good on everyone, even your mom who, though stylish and good looking on her own, doesn’t wear hats so well, as you know. We wore your hat out about town and it was so comforting to see Beanz and Mama Lama under the brim.
We hiked the desert yesterday and had a photo shoot of your hat on a rock overlooking Rattle Snake Cove off Bartlett Reservoir in the Tonto National Forest. It’s strange seeing such a vast expanse of water in the desert. Boats cruising at crazy fast speeds pulling skiers. Beautiful blue against brown shorelines with Saguaros punctuating the landscape. The desert isn’t the first place I’d go for boating but what do I know. I’m a hiker. One day we’ll visit Lake Powell to experience the stories told by Joe of slot canyons and miles of shoreline. Another reservoir. Another river.
We’ll be leaving the desert to return to the rain forest yard you helped build. The KT Granite Bar. It’s a Monday and the beginning of the work week. I think getting on a plane qualifies as work. Returning to work. On a schedule. Getting stuff done. Making the day. Pretending to be interested. The psychology of the day revealed in movement from the mourning returning to the nightmare and quieting with events so that the evenings can be reflective. And then again.
We love you buddy and bring you along with us every day. Now we can see others bring you along, under your lid. Honoring your life. Some who knew you and others who knew of you: The big guy in the background who loved life, smiled all the time, and gave it everything he could. Just because he could.
Dad Man