Kate. Wow, I think this one could be a long one. But, for the sake of brevity and the fact that I am at work writing this (erp), I will try to be terse. Kate has been a friend for a LONG time. Not quite as long as Matt, Dan & Mike, but close. Kate and I have been through it all together. We have had our good times and our bad, and extremes of both. But for the most part, it has been a lasting and healthy relationship.

I guess, first and foremost - the thing that I love about Kate is that she is a straight-shooter. She tells you how it is - at least by her best approximation. She will give you her opinion no matter what and she almost always tries to take a well-balanced approach. She is fair and trustworthy and a great listener. And in fact, she has been the receiving end of a lot of my personal issues over the years (see: Danielle). She has helped me get thorough a great deal of crap in my life and is a great and true friend. And she will never feed you a line of bullshit, even if it hurts to tell the truth. That right there is a rare treat. Not a lot of people have the courage to tell their friends if they are being assholes or are wrong about something, or more important still - if they are headed down the wrong path. I know for a fact that Kate has informed me of such wrong-doings before and in the past, and I didn't listen. And I ended up being wrong as she indicated. Well... we all have to make our own mistakes, but it's nice to know that you have a friend who can see things for what they are and is willing to tell you.

I guess a lot of what motivates Kate to be such a good friend is her complicated and drama-riddled past. She comes from a not-so-functional family and without going into detail, has worked her way though piles of bullshit, clawed her way to the top and has come out ahead. She has dealt with more family drama than anyone I have ever known, and is only a better person for it. She has always managed to stay strong, even in her weakest, most vulnerable moments. It is a trait that I find to be her best. She WILL overcome. She is a fighter and will do what it takes to not only survive, but exceed as well.

Kate has for a long time been "one of the gang". As such, she has been forced into a lot of rough and tumble situations and still makes reference to the fact that if she knows that she will be hanging out with any of us, that she should pack no less than a days worth of gear including sneakers or hiking boots, pants, rain gear, a harness, maybe some climbing shoes, etc. She has - for all intents and purposes - not been allowed to be a girl around us. And she has taken that with a grain of salt and a smile on her face. But because of that, Kate has come on a ridiculous amount of adventures with us that many girls would not have. And it has gotten her into a lot of nasty situations too... She swears that its a combined result of both EJ and myself being there at the same time, but I still fear that it might just be me - but it seems that (and admittedly not so much anymore) when we are together, something really bad happens to her. For instance - at the spring concert one year, when Socks Malone was playing - she was dancing and went to spin, only her foot didn't come along. She ended up breaking her ankle. And there was the when I drove with her out to Chicago where she was going to be going to school to as a music major, playing her flute. We went skating and while I was being an old man and nearly passing out due to exhaustion, she hopped on my skateboard - something not unfamiliar to her - but this time it slipped out from underneath her and she fell and seriously broke her wrist. Like BAD. There have been other times too... climbing or skating or whatever, that seriously dibilitating injuries befall her. And yet, she still muscles through, rolls with the punches and somehow - by some miraculous sense of personal struggle and a belief in herself - she overcomes it all.

I don't think I can ever fully appreciate that about her. I have not had the same kinds of experiences and I can only really speculate on the amount of dedication and energy that that must take. That is why I love Kate. Really, truly and forever. Her spirit is unmatched as is the friendship she has provided for me.