One more cup of coffee…

That banana video made me laugh; I remember Lara showing it to everyone who walked into her office! I worked closely with Lara for a year and a half, but it was our breaks between working that brought us closer together. Time with Lara always made the day go by faster. Everyday we’d go to Pete’s for coffee, and we’d often workout at Sound Mind and Body or go for a run in the afternoon.

I admired Lara’s femininity. She had style and great taste in clothes! For fun, we’d occasionally run next door for an eyebrow wax. Once at 7 am, we met at Nordstrom’s for the Half Year Sale. After hours of shopping, Lara, admiring the boots, suggested we get back to work before someone noticed we were missing.

Lara and Chad endeared themselves to me forever after a dramatic event during one of those “afternoon runs.” While jogging across 3rd Avenue on Queen Anne, a bicyclist slammed into me causing injury. Lara rode in the ambulance with me and, in true Lara style, she told the ambulance driver the best way to get to the hospital! Chad picked us both up and they took me home with them that night. Though every room (but their bedroom) in the house was being remodeled, Lara insisted that I have their room. I will always remember Lara’s (and Chad’s) immediate reactions of generosity and kindness.

Lara was always trying to set me up with cute climber guys. Two years ago, she invited me to a slide show at Feathered Friends (Mike Gauthier’s). I said “what about him, set me up with him...” But Lara shook her head, smiled, and said “No way, he’s trouble.” Well, I went to the slide show, and out to the Elysian afterwards, and met Mike anyway. Two years later I’m still with “trouble” and, to some degree, Lara was right :)

After leaving the Forest Service lab, I saw less of Lara. When I last saw her, she said, “come by the office, we’ll get a cup of coffee”. I didn’t get that cup of coffee, but I wish I could now. I would thank her for bringing Mike into my life. I would thank her for inspiring me to live my life as I want to, without letting other people (or myself) get in the way of my dreams, the way she lived her life.

-Crystal Raymond