Kara’s eight- person rowing shell…has good direction!

This spring we were asked by a good friend and member of the Cazenovia Rowing Club, if they could name a rowing shell in Kara’s memory. While rowing wasn’t one of Kara’s sports, she did love the water and spent alot of time both in and on it. So we said sure, and that it was very thoughtful to name “an eight” in Kara’s memory. We often see the crew team rowing early in the morning, and I was both warmed and chilled to see “Kara’s boat” glide by me one day when I was out in my kayak. I was feeling sad and was missing Kara alot that morning, and the image of eight people working together to make that shell glide so gracefully over the water was soothing to me. Later in the summer, one of Kara’s best friends from elementary school was home for her wedding, and she was out on the lake for a gentle cruise with her parents. She was both surprised and moved when she saw a rowing shell named Kara Hood gliding across the water. She and her folks relived warm memories of sharing summers growing up with Kara on the water. And then just a few weeks ago the Cazenovia Rowing Club competed in the “Head of the Charles” in Boston, and “Kara Hood” was touching hearts there there as well. Admist a crowd of 300,000 spectators and 6000 competitors, a girl walked by and saw the boat with Kara’s name on it and said that she went to JD High School with Kara! And so a connection was made; a memory was shared; and Kara’s spirit lives on. Last week two guys at Cazenovia High School who are members of the rowing club shared with me how they worked on “Kara’s” boat this summer, refinishing the wood trim and making it look like new. They enthusiastically described how great it is to row her boat! And just today, my friend who asked us about naming the boat for Kara, shared with me that she had Kara’s mass card laminated and has it with her when she races in the boat. She said that they do very well in competition with “Kara’s boat,” and suggested that it may have something to do with Kara’s verse that we put on her mass card. “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.”