sv evi

oh harris

you were on your way

solo hiking the JMT

you were bummed to only get a nobo, or northbound, permit

and then i saw online that you hadn’t picked up your food caches

and you hadn’t pressed the SOS button on your In Reach device

where were you? what happened?

and the next day I got the news

they had found your body

you had fallen 1,000 feet

on the first day of your big adventure

in the midst of my family

i cried and cried

on Mo’s shoulder

i love you Harris

ich liebe Dich

te quiero tanto

i can’t believe i’ll never talk to you again —

or more like, you’ll never answer me again.

thank you for showing me the joy of pickleball

that day on Vashon we played best 2 out of 3 singles

thank you for being my partner in adventure

taking our mentor groups to the park for field day and bowling

thank you for learning to rock climb with the SAMi students

and for going to Vantage to help supervise the overnight climbing trips

and for teaching the rock climbing class after I left SAMi

thank you for making jade, luz and i lunch

in your colorful beautiful home stuffed full of records on Vashon Island

thank you for your commitment to social justice

for your passion for teaching and learning

for truly knowing me

for texting me in German, Spanish, and English

for playing ping pong with me during breaks in conferences

for bringing home baked treats to share to our Spanish meetings

for your sense of humor

for your irreverence

for loving me

remember when you commissioned a student

to paint over a mural on the back wall of Portable F?

remember how you would come to morning meetings tired

because you had been to a live concert at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard

on a Tuesday night?

remember when i wore my light up suit for night climbing in Vantage?

remember how you built a trail and a gathering place in January for mini-term?

no project was too big for you

where ever you are my dear harris

i hope you are giving them hell

and also spreading joy

as you did on earth

we miss you like crazy down here