I ♥ TK

Yesterday, we lost a special kid at Lincoln East High School.  Tony Kirkpatrick was in my Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition class last fall, and he ran cross-country his freshman year.  I admired Tony for his writing ability and his engagement in class discussions.  Everyday, he would wear an “I ♥ [insert something here]” t-shirt, and everyday it would make me smile.  We have a “no hat” rule at East High school, but during the holiday season, I let Tony wear his green elf hat in my classroom.  I will always think of him as a Christmas elf spreading love through the hallways of East High school via the messages on his chest.  

  

You are gone too soon.  As a tribute, I wanted to write a list of things I ♥.

I ♥ Tony

I ♥ exploring new places and having new adventures

I ♥ NY

I ♥ making people laugh

I ♥ holding koala bears

I ♥ getting pressured to run marathons

I ♥ telling stories

I ♥ drinking Mountain Dew at 7am

I ♥ sitting for hours at The Mill

I ♥ giving my cats hugs

I ♥ cooking in a Tuscan villa

I ♥ holding hands with a sloth

I ♥ Christmas traditions

I ♥ eating lunch with Jane & Crew

I ♥ my cats

I ♥ teaching English at East High

I ♥ creative writing

I ♥ reading the authors Hunter S. Thompson and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

I ♥ surfing the Internet

I ♥ getting packages in the mail

I ♥ using the phrase “I can. I will!”

I ♥ my East High community

I ♥ getting support from my family, friends, colleagues, and strangers

I ♥ Australia (mostly for its animals)

I ♥ Italy

I ♥ listening to Irish folk music

I ♥ Belize for its pristine barrier reef

I ♥ flying through the air on a zipline

I ♥ tasting a flight at Zipline Brewery

I ♥ rappelling down waterfalls

I ♥ telling stories about hiking in the Grand Canyon

I ♥ eating stinky cheese

I ♥ drinking Cakebread and Rombauer wine

I ♥ reminiscing with my high school and college running buddies

I ♥ running

I ♥ coaching kids who want to be successful

I ♥ being around other people

I ♥ avoiding cleaning…anything

I ♥ having conversations with strangers

I ♥ skiing under a Vail blue sky

I ♥ hugging my cats when I get home from school

I ♥ snow days

I ♥ being the first person in line

I ♥ smelling new running shoes

I ♥ Sunday night dinners at my parents’ house

I ♥ seven-layer Jell-O

I ♥ eating sushi with friends

I ♥ buying jewelry at Tiffany

I ♥ making people laugh because of stupid things I do (ex: biting things in Australia)

I ♥ crocodiles, people with crocodile mentalities, and Crocodile Dundee

I ♥ chocolate in all its glorious forms (particularly German Ritter Sport)

I ♥ the three cats who are slowly taking over my house

I ♥ my husband, even though he’s the loudest man in the world

I ♥ my cross country kids

I ♥ running with my former teammates

I ♥ holding 57-pound wombats

I ♥ the phrase “I Can. I Will!”

I ♥ my SEED friends

I ♥ quoting lines from Dumb and Dumber and Friends

I ♥ East High Spartans

I ♥ checking things off of my bucket list

I ♥ multitasking

I ♥ designing shoes on NikeID

I ♥ being allowed in cages with exotic animals

I ♥ paragliding and riding in hot air balloons with Katherine

I ♥ buying Cadbury candy bars from vending machines in the London Tube

I ♥ reading books at the beach

I ♥ traveling with my friends and family

I ♥ passive aggressive road rage

I ♥ playing with kittens (even though they maul you)

I ♥ pulling pranks on Jane Holt

I ♥ anything made from Apple

I ♥ being the “mascot” at the cancer center

I ♥ buying lots of things at marathon expos, so I’m sure to finish the race

I ♥ finishers’ medals

I ♥ gray Moosejaw t-shirts

I ♥ U2 and Ani Difranco

I ♥ eating the extra Halloween candy

I ♥ love going into Whole Foods to buy a sandwich and coming out with a bag of groceries

I ♥ meeting people in foreign countries

I ♥ reading a book in one sitting

I ♥ attempting to speak Spanish while on vacation

I ♥ Robert Redford in The Great Gatsby

I ♥ eating Key Lime pie on the beach with (or in honor of) my grandma

I ♥ beef tenderloin in my sushi

I ♥ Jane’s Coke machine

I ♥ ordering things from Amazon

I ♥ reading memoirs about other people’s crazy lives

I ♥ Julie’s head art

I ♥ the Lincoln Running Company (and Ann Ringlein)

I ♥ NWU Cross Country

I ♥ the Cinque Terre

I ♥ snorkeling in the Galapagos Islands

I ♥ mountain biking in Colorado

I ♥ finishing under four hours for the marathon

I ♥ writing this list…and it could go on forever.

We ♥ Tony