MARK WESTMAN: "THE STORY YOU TELL YOURSELF BECOMES YOUR REALITY"
Stretched across 17 years of friendship and adventures, a few photos are expressive but cannot really capture the full essence of Chad's influence and impact on my life, both in the mountains and out. Chad and I pushed each other hard, we trained together, climbed miles of ice and rock together, worked together as rangers and later remodeling homes. We ran trails till our legs couldn't go any further, shouted encouragement towards whichever one of us held the sharp end of the rope; we strategized on life, fitness, nutrition, and the big picture over countless dinners, and coffees, and long road trips, and belays, predawn gym sessions, back country powder pursuits, and exhausted late night hikes out of the mountains. I lived in his and Lara's attic for an entire winter and the three of us became inseparable partners for all our weekend adventures and nightly social plans. Chad and I believed in one another. Amidst our busy schedules and goals we never got to take that trip to the bigger ranges together, we always wondered aloud why we hadn't done it yet. But I can honestly say that every single one of my most engaging experiences over the past 15 years holds traces of my friendship with Chad, and the same is true for my experiences in everyday life. When I catch myself in moments of negative self talk or low self image, Chad's words of advice he once offered have always brought me back to center: "the story you tell yourself becomes your reality". Chad as we all know spoke from experience in his knowledge of overcoming hardship and seemingly hopeless circumstances. In fact, he enacted the most spectacular act of re-invention and recovery of any person I've known. No matter what the effort was for, nobody worked harder than Chad. And nobody I've ever known had more drive, determination, and courage. Over the past three years, as I've spent very little time in the northwest, I've only seen him about once a year, when we would put together a few days to get out and crush something in the mountains. But his influence has been steady and in his brief periods at home between his seemingly nonstop expeditions of late, I'd always get a call or a message with his trademark cheery greeting: "Maaaarrk!! Chad Kellogg here, givin' you a call...", and when we'd finally connect to talk, it was always an excited exchange of the latest adventures, comparing notes, and a plan for the next one we might do together. All of that is now lost in time, but, as it has been with Lara and Joe, the thousand little pieces of my life will be forever populated and enriched by the gifts he- and they-provided. Chad made a point of expressing his thankfulness for everything in life, and he did nothing wasteful with his time. He lived a good life and he died a happy man. Follow his example. Whatever you dream of doing, you better get to it. Thank you Chad, and goodbye.
