"Dad, I want something bad to happen! It creates an adventure!"

Bad is a relative term here. Let me explain...

As you can imagine, since the accident Rhonda' s maternal instinct has been in high gear. She didn't leave Kristin's side immediately after the accident and hasn't done much better over the past 3.5 years. Rhonda's ability to "let go" has progressed about as quickly as watching paint dry. In the rare instances that Rhonda has left to take some well deserved time to herself, "something" has always happened with Kristin under dear old Daddy's watch. Kristin calls them bad things, but in reality the things that have happened were simply untested waters in sea of life. Without going into a lot of detail, the last "bad thing" was Kristin and I being stranded in a broken down car in White Stone at 10:00 p.m. with no apparent means of rescue. If anyone knows White Stone, VA, the street (not streets) roll up around 8:00 p.m. The Now Entering and Now Leaving signs might as well be on the same pole. We had some very definite challenges that night including being denied access to a bathroom by the gas station attendant because it was "for employees only." But we got through it in true Kristin style..."I will overcome." was the prevalent theme. Just for kicks, we told Rhonda that we spent the night in the car, which resulted in the expected reaction of, "I KNEW I shouldn't have left. I'll never leave again."

OK, jump to today. After much cojoling, Rhonda eventually felt comfortable enough to go away for a couple of days, but it never failed that something "bad" would happen, which evolved into adventure opportunities for Kristin and me. Recently, Rhonda got the opportunity to join a close friend on a business trip to Rome, which included a private tour of the Vatican and a world class soccer match in a skybox. Using points, she got her airline ticket and piggybacked on her friend's hotel arrangements. She can officially write a book on "Rome on .32 cents per day." She's gone for a week and coming back tomorrow night. So, Dad is back in the saddle with Kristin alone counting the hours until Rhonda returns making sure that I don't allow something "bad" to happen. Kristin, on the other hand, is anxiously waiting for the next adventure.

Things have been relatively calm much to Kristin's chagrin. We've gone to the river for an "All K.B. weekend" where she was able to do anything she wanted. She's easy to please; no surprises there. But tonight at the last minute, a friend won tickets to the Little Feat concert at Innsbrook. He wanted to ask Kristin to be his date.

"Who's Little Feat, Dad? What's their music like?"

"Good question." I was at a loss to really categorize Little Feat's music, but it was nowhere near Blink 182, which is all that matters to her right now musicwise. "You might like it...NOT...but let's go. We'll make it an adventure."

"OK COOL! Nothing bad has happened; maybe this will be it!"

The Innsbrook Pavilion is mostly gravel...thick gravel around the grass portion. You have to go through it to get to the grassy part. I watched as Kristin, bound and determined, steadily and slowly made her way through that gravel. She refused any assistance from me at all. I walked beside her one step at a time as she struggled to get through it. No matter how small the issue, it is heartbreaking to witness her struggle at times, but there is a song in my heart to see her overcome her barriers with vigor and determination. I was proud to walk by her and watch as people moved for her and most looked at her and smiled with admiration as they could tell this was her personal challenge.

I squatted beside her and took in her view. Butts, lots of butts. All shapes and sizes; some nice, some not so nice.

"Are you bored? You can't see the stage and I know you don't like the music. Being down here beside you...now I know what you see."

"No, I'm good. I'm used to this. It's entertaining." Obviously, people watching is sometimes better than the entertainment.
Now, you're probably thinking I'm going to tell you something bad happened, but so far (and counting down), we've broken the cycle. Only 20 hours left to go. What I do want to share with you is that tonight I witnessed a bunch of people that helped restore my faith in mankind. People took the time and the effort to come up and talk to Kristin. In particular, they bent down on her level and talked to her; complete strangers and then some that knew her from school. The most memorable was a lady in her mid to late 40's that danced the entire concert in her own "free spirit" way. She was about 40-50 feet away from us, but came over and said, "Has anyone danced with you yet?" She proceeded to take Kristin's hands and dance with her for just a minute or two; smiling the whole time. At the end, she bent down and kissed Kristin's hands and went back to her group of friends.

In a time when things are so bad around us, the "bad" can really simply be another reason to turn it into a learning experience; an adventure. Sometimes the adventure will surprise you and bring you back to the basics like believing that most people are good people, things are never as bad as they seem, there are more molehills than mountains, faith, faith, faith.

Keep praying for Kristin. She's not giving up.

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