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This is a little memory I was talking to my wife about the other day. Not an elaborate thing, just a glimpse into Kurt's personality as a teenager. There was a hill in Montesano, Washington called "ball park hill" where people would go sometimes to do some sledding and tubing when it snowed. I was there with my daughter in 1982 when she was five years old. We were just using an inner tube to whiz down this gentle hill along a fenceline to where things leveled out. Some of the people were using a pair of skis and boots that one of the guys had to glide down the hill. They would cram their feet into his boots, latch into the skis and take off. Most of them did surprisingly well. Then, at the bottom, they would carry the skis up and wear the boots up for the next person. This was all working pretty well until Kurt shows up... Kurt stood around for quite a while, I remember, egging on the little kids and laughing at the older kids and some of the grownups who were trying to ski. Of course, he was asked if he wanted to give it a try. Well, Kurt crammed into the boots, clipped on the skis and then did all these "stretching exercises" like he was some kind of pro! Put on a pretty good show for the kids. He was quite the showoff at times. Then, of course, he moved clear over to alongside the fence where nobody else had skied.. And, of course, he took off like a bat out of hell, using the poles to get maximum shove-off speed. (No less than I expected of Kurt, that's for sure). Well, this was quite a sight, with Kurt's arms windmilling and he going so fast that he was on the edge of disaster. But, you know, the most vivid memory was of his maniacal grin as he was careening out of control. As you all know, Kurt never did anything unless he did it "all out"! Naturally, Kurt ended up with one leg through the fence and did a face plant in the snow about 3/4 of the way down. So...what does Kurt do? Why, he takes the skis and boots off, cussing and mumbling and concentrating on getting through all those buckles. He was really mad, and when he got that way, he just sort of forgot the world around him... The kicker to this one is that Kurt just took the boots off, sort of "flipped" over the fence, and just went back to town! Left the dang boots right there! It's not that he was being rude by not bringing them back up the hill - he just forgot because of his concentration on being mad at the skis and the fence! I am not even sure what the heck he did about getting his shoes back that he left at the top. Just had socks on, last time I saw him that day...
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