Continuing our expansion of Kellisa's Path, we've conducted our second interview with someone who's shared a similar path. This time, we talked to leading disabled advocate and author of A Unique Life Fully Lived, Karen Kain:
Monday, July 28, 2014
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Crater Lake National Park
August 2009
It's been almost 5 years since we visited Crater Lake National Park and it seems like a lifetime ago. Actually, it has been a lifetime, Laurel's lifetime. This trip happened 14 months before Laurel came into our lives.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Sprague Lake Accessible Backcountry Campsite
Rocky Mountain National Park
June 2014
We traveled to Rocky Mountain National Park to spend two nights at the Sprague Lake Accessible Backcountry Campsite. Fortunately, the park provides an excellent trail to this beautiful campsite to give people with disabilities the opportunity to camp in the backcountry. Unfortunately, the ranger issuing our permit told us that the site is almost never used. You do have to be disabled, so that probably keeps most people from cheating and using this site when the hundreds of other sites in the park are full just about every night during the summer. We had a little bit of everything: freezing nighttime temperatures, 90+ degree afternoons, thunderstorms with high winds and an elk sighting. I would highly recommend this campsite!
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Letter to the President
After telling Laurel about my Longs Peak story, she was ready to go and climb the biggest mountain. She was very disappointed when I told her that we couldn't. Like everything else, she wanted detailed reasons and a chance to explain why each reason wasn't valid. It went something like this:
Me: We're not prepared today.
Laurel: Yes we are.
Me: There's too much snow on the mountain.
Laurel: I like snow.
Me: We have other plans.
Laurel: I don't want to do anything else.
Me: We can't take Kellisa to the top.
Laurel: Why not?
Me: They don't have a trail to the top where I can push Kellisa.
Laurel was very upset with this last answer. She asked more questions trying to figure out how to make it work with Kellisa. Laurel just couldn't wrap her head around the fact that there was something that Kellisa couldn't do. She kept saying, "it's not fair" as she began to cry. Her love and compassion for Kellisa brought a tear to my eye as well. In an attempt to move past this difficult conversation, I told Laurel that we could come back together sometime to climb a mountain. She asked if Kellisa would come with and I answered, "no". She really started to cry, but then she had an idea.
"I want to write a letter to President Obama to tell him to make a trail to the top for Kellisa". I told her that was a great idea. Laurel wanted to start the letter right then, but I promised her that I would help her write it when we got home. (We got home after 1am and as soon as we walked in the door, she was ready to start her letter.)
I was very proud that Laurel came up with this idea herself (we never talked about writing a letter to the President, so I have no idea where this idea came from) and was more than happy to help her as she wrote the letter. It's her own words, I just helped spell and space the words.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Jacksonville Miracle League- Hall of Fame
After 10 seasons of playing baseball in The Jacksonville Miracle League, Kellisa is now a member of their Hall of Fame. A ceremony will take place in September 2014 where a brick with her name will be permanently placed in the ground behind home plate.
Members of our Hall of Fame
| ||
| Name | Inducted | |
| Colin Cone | - | 2013 Fall |
| Ronnie Edwards | - | 2013 Fall |
| Kyle Farris | - | 2013 Spring |
| Doug Fry | - | 2012 Fall |
| Sean Harcrow | - | 2014 Spring |
| Taubri Jackson | - | 2013 Fall |
| Larry Jacobs | - | 2014 Spring |
| Morgan Jones | - | 2014 Spring |
| Kellisa Kain | - | 2014 Spring |
| Jake Miller | - | 2013 Fall |
| Jason Swink | - | 2014 Spring |
| Justin Taustein | - | 2014 Spring |
| Adam Varnadore | - | 2014 Spring |
| Chris Wright | - | 2012 Fall |
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