We had no idea she was so depressed. It came as quite a shock to us. Kristin was a lovely person, so young and with so much still ahead of her that it just made no sense, but I guess that's the point. When you can't see the meaning you have nothing left and depression is sort of a blindness. Her best quality was caring, which she did both for her family but even ours. She looked after our pets better than we did. Isolation was not her problem. She loved and was loved, and we will miss her.

Reese had flown to Spain for a meeting with Fapia and left Kristin and me to run Bargain Books. This was the first she had been separated from him in a while and that always gave her the jitters. I was trying my best to entertain her and keep her from watching the clock. I decided the thing to do was take the motorcycle out and take her for a nice cruise. She and I headed out for the Berkeley hills and decided to get lost up in the hills. Winding roads, dead ends, turn arounds and then finally we make it to the most awesome spot you can imagine. Scenery like we had never seen before. Overlooking San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Bridge downtown etc... Both of us sitting in the grass sucking down beers completely speechless except to say WOW. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky. We sat for awhile wondering how we found this place and what a beautiful picture this would make. We got back on the bike and headed back home vowing we would not forget our place, and as soon as Reese got back we would take him there and show him this magical place we found and show him how quiet and peaceful and serene it was. We never found it again.

We tried again and again but to no avail. Kristin and I from that day forward would refer to it as our place and smile at each other when we talked about it. Made people jealous or envious when we described the scene. I still have the motorcycle and recently finished restoring it back to ship shape. Kristin would be proud of it. She loved it. I think of our place from time to time and it's a peaceful feeling. I think she is there now.

Another memorable impact on my life was when she took me shopping and helped me overcome my hatred of stomping around in a mall not knowing what I'm looking for or where I could begin to find it. And she helped me figure out what clothes match and what ones don't. She had style. And she knew how to dress me up and I let her. Because I didn't know how. Now if the car had broken down I could handle that with ease but shopping was a different scene altogether. Kristin was a pro. Today I can go to a mall pick out some nice duds and come out styling with confidence. She would be proud of me for that.

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