This is an email I sent to some of my National Marine Educators Association friends around the country who chipped in to get Persis and me a couple of gift certificates to restaurants and made a contribution to the KHS Memorial Fund.
May 24, 2010
Dear, Diana, Thaxter, Lauren, Susan, Sylvia, Carmelina, Johnette, Justine and Lynn,
My good friend and former LHS colleague, Kim Seashore (great name, eh?), dropped off your wonderful gift yesterday. I'm so touched and appreciative. It's a wonderful offering, and it's things like this and people like you that keep us slogging forward through this darkest of times. Thanks to Kim, also. She's done so much for us.
Homemade Cafe, a Berkeley Institution, is one of our favorite haunts, about six blocks from our house. I started taking Kyle there (and to a couple other neighborhood places) for breakfast when he was still in a sling once a week in order to let his mom sleep in. When he was in pre-school, he'd ride there on my shoulders at least once a week before I dropped him off. We invented our favorite breakfast game there, "The Perfect Bite," later known as "The Monster Bite." We would have a competition to see who could get one little piece of everything from our plates, including condiments, piled up onto a fork or onto a corner of our toast and into our mouth without dropping anything. Fried egg, toast, potato, bacon, pancake, ketchup, syrup, jelly, butter, parsley, orange slice, hot sauce... When Kyle was big enough for his elbows to reach, we'd sit at the counter to watch the cook, who would always come over and flip a little something extra onto Kyle's plate. Kyle knew all the cooks and all the waitresses on all the shifts. Just about six months ago, he told me that he loved taking girls on morning dates to Homemade because he felt like such a bigshot there. All the waitresses would come over and say hello, ask him if he wanted his usual, and they'd always bring his date a piece of coffee cake and say, "...on the house, Mr. Strang." So, we'll go there this weekend and I'll pile up a Monster Bite for you all in memory of Kyle.
Persis and I will also send Niko to a friend and have a nice dinner at Pomegranate, our favorite Persian place that makes rice almost as good as Persis does. And your contribution to Kyle's Memorial Fund will help us to do something special for his friends at Berkeley High in the CAS program. We haven't decided yet exactly how to spend the money, but the teachers are committed to something that will both honor who Kyle was and provide support to his 2011 classmates to help them make it to graduation next year. We're thinking about a student trip somewhere (Israel/West Bank or New Orleans?) that will include service learning and address the concept of bringing groups together across boundaries. I will keep you all posted as we make decisions about that.
I'm still a bit of a mess here and my days are still filled with thoughts and activities related to Kyle, but I'm making it through day by day. Thanks for your kindness and support. It helps.
Craig
My good friend and former LHS colleague, Kim Seashore (great name, eh?), dropped off your wonderful gift yesterday. I'm so touched and appreciative. It's a wonderful offering, and it's things like this and people like you that keep us slogging forward through this darkest of times. Thanks to Kim, also. She's done so much for us.
Homemade Cafe, a Berkeley Institution, is one of our favorite haunts, about six blocks from our house. I started taking Kyle there (and to a couple other neighborhood places) for breakfast when he was still in a sling once a week in order to let his mom sleep in. When he was in pre-school, he'd ride there on my shoulders at least once a week before I dropped him off. We invented our favorite breakfast game there, "The Perfect Bite," later known as "The Monster Bite." We would have a competition to see who could get one little piece of everything from our plates, including condiments, piled up onto a fork or onto a corner of our toast and into our mouth without dropping anything. Fried egg, toast, potato, bacon, pancake, ketchup, syrup, jelly, butter, parsley, orange slice, hot sauce... When Kyle was big enough for his elbows to reach, we'd sit at the counter to watch the cook, who would always come over and flip a little something extra onto Kyle's plate. Kyle knew all the cooks and all the waitresses on all the shifts. Just about six months ago, he told me that he loved taking girls on morning dates to Homemade because he felt like such a bigshot there. All the waitresses would come over and say hello, ask him if he wanted his usual, and they'd always bring his date a piece of coffee cake and say, "...on the house, Mr. Strang." So, we'll go there this weekend and I'll pile up a Monster Bite for you all in memory of Kyle.
Persis and I will also send Niko to a friend and have a nice dinner at Pomegranate, our favorite Persian place that makes rice almost as good as Persis does. And your contribution to Kyle's Memorial Fund will help us to do something special for his friends at Berkeley High in the CAS program. We haven't decided yet exactly how to spend the money, but the teachers are committed to something that will both honor who Kyle was and provide support to his 2011 classmates to help them make it to graduation next year. We're thinking about a student trip somewhere (Israel/West Bank or New Orleans?) that will include service learning and address the concept of bringing groups together across boundaries. I will keep you all posted as we make decisions about that.
I'm still a bit of a mess here and my days are still filled with thoughts and activities related to Kyle, but I'm making it through day by day. Thanks for your kindness and support. It helps.
Craig
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