Kara Hood

Message No. 5 of 8

A Trip to Home Depot

Although none of us questioned Kara's intelligence, sense of direction was never one of her strengths. Since I suffer from the same impediment, the two of us were never a good combination when attempting to reach a destination. In fact we made a notoriously bad one. Luckily, neither of us were at all bothered by our perpetual lateness and constant wrong turns. Who cares if we arrived fifteen minutes late for kickboxing? (even if we did leave at the same time as Kat and Vanessa). It never phased us, although it did become a common joke among our more directionally inclined friends. One winter Saturday of our senior year, Kara and I received the nomination to make a particularly important trip. After spending the afternoon brainstorming about the night's activities (and rehashing the previous one's) it was unanimously decided that a ping pong table, rather a beer pong table was imperative. Kara and I gladly embraced the challenge. As we hurried off to Home Depot, we were trailed by comments like "good luck," "see you two tomorrow" and the likes. Kara responded with "Such little faith my friends! Such little faith." I would like to say we reached Home Depot on our first attempt, but if memory serves me correctly, we might have made a detour or two. After all, New Britain Avenue can be very tricky! Finally arriving at the monstrosity of a store, Kara and I were a little overwhelmed by the many options. After wondering around to no avail we decided to split up and solicit some help. The plan was to reconvene in ten minutes with the hopes of locating pile wood and other supplies. When I returned to our meeting spot there was Kara flanked by two friends. Thinking back on it I have to laugh, because it was typical of Kara to make friends at the most random of locations. She had a gift for that. She turned to me beaming "Look what I found Nance!" I wasn't sure if she was referring to the wood or the people! Finally after scrutinizing multiple pieces of wood, receiving the "expert's opinion," being invited to a few parties at U-Conn, (which Kara said she would definitely attend) we picked our future table. Kara promised to call the sales person, gave a few high fives, and at long last we had the wood safely in the back of her jeep. Needless to say, we were extremely proud of our mission. Even more so we couldn't wait to shock our friends by our success. My friend turned to me as we pulled out of the parking lot with a grin "And they doubted us. We'll show them!" We raved about our accomplishment on the way home and gave each other a big pat on the back. After all, not everyone would motivate (directionally impaired and all) to set up a pong table. Of course, that night we had to have a party to celebrate and put the table to proper use! Looking back on that afternoon and the countless afternoons I spent with Kara, I'm greeted with a feeling of warmth. I can't help but smile when I think of her. Not many are lucky enough to have their life touched by someone like Kara. Someone who offered so much cheer to all she met, cared so deeply about people, helping them and hearing their stories. She was spiritual and generous, determined and consciousness, serious and fun loving. (An amazingly wonderful combination.) I wish I could offer words to do her memory justice, but the best analogy I can give is she brought sunshine to us all, and will continue to. For all she gave me and taught me I will be forever grateful. Thanks Kara, I miss you terribly.

Nancy Dwyer Nancy Dwyer

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A Trip to Home Depot
	Although none of us questioned Kara's intelligence, sense of direction was never one of her strengths. Since I suffer from the same impediment, the two of us were never a good combination when attempting to reach a destination. In fact we made a notoriously bad one. Luckily, neither of us were at all bothered by our perpetual lateness and constant wrong turns. Who cares if we arrived fifteen minutes late for kickboxing? (even if we did leave at the same time as Kat and Vanessa). It never phased us, although it did become a common joke among our more directionally inclined friends. One winter Saturday of our senior year, Kara and I received the nomination to make a particularly important trip. After spending the afternoon brainstorming about the night's activities (and rehashing the previous one's) it was unanimously decided that a ping pong table, rather a beer pong table was imperative. Kara and I gladly embraced the challenge. As we hurried off to Home Depot, we were trailed by comments like "good luck," "see you two tomorrow" and the likes. Kara responded with "Such little faith my friends! Such little faith." I would like to say we reached Home Depot on our first attempt, but if memory serves me correctly, we might have made a detour or two. After all, New Britain Avenue can be very tricky! Finally arriving at the monstrosity of a store, Kara and I were a little overwhelmed by the many options. After wondering around to no avail we decided to split up and solicit some help. The plan was to reconvene in ten minutes with the hopes of locating pile wood and other supplies. When I returned to our meeting spot there was Kara flanked by two friends. Thinking back on it I have to laugh, because it was typical of Kara to make friends at the most random of locations. She had a gift for that. She turned to me beaming "Look what I found Nance!" I wasn't sure if she was referring to the wood or the people! Finally after scrutinizing multiple pieces of wood, receiving the "expert's opinion," being invited to a few parties at U-Conn, (which Kara said she would definitely attend) we picked our future table. Kara promised to call the sales person, gave a few high fives, and at long last we had the wood safely in the back of her jeep. Needless to say, we were extremely proud of our mission. Even more so we couldn't wait to shock our friends by our success. My friend turned to me as we pulled out of the parking lot with a grin "And they doubted us. We'll show them!" We raved about our accomplishment on the way home and gave each other a big pat on the back. After all, not everyone would motivate (directionally impaired and all) to set up a pong table. Of course, that night we had to have a party to celebrate and put the table to proper use! Looking back on that afternoon and the countless afternoons I spent with Kara, I'm greeted with a feeling of warmth. I can't help but smile when I think of her. Not many are lucky enough to have their life touched by someone like Kara. Someone who offered so much cheer to all she met, cared so deeply about people, helping them and hearing their stories. She was spiritual and generous, determined and consciousness, serious and fun loving. (An amazingly wonderful combination.) I wish I could offer words to do her memory justice, but the best analogy I can give is she brought sunshine to us all, and will continue to. For all she gave me and taught me I will be forever grateful. Thanks Kara, I miss you terribly.
	Nancy Dwyer Nancy Dwyer