Who is Kathryn H?

A friend request on Facebook came in from a stranger, so I messaged him, thinking he had meant it for the “other” Kathryn H. (Yes, my last name is so rare, particularly in combination with an English/Scottish first name, that there are only two of us in the world.) That prompted me to search Facebook, and when that failed, to Google our name, as I hadn’t looked at the other Kathryn’s profile for a decade or so.

And she has disappeared! Did she get married or divorced, change her name, or intentionally erase her Internet presence? I don’t think she died, as in that case there would likely be an obituary. I recall that she was an aspiring Christian actor from New York, and somewhat younger than me, but I don’t remember any more details, if I ever knew them.

However, in the search for her traces, I went further into the depths than I ever had before. Apart from expected results to do with teaching and my local community, I found a few things I had forgotten about.

Apparently an academic compiler thinks the thesis “Assay Variation in the Erickson Gold Deposit, Utah” can be obtained by contacting the author with their link button. As I am the author, and don’t think I even have a copy of my thesis anymore, this once again shows the unreliability of the internet.

I came 57th in the 1985 Midnight Dome race in Dawson City, Yukon, right behind “unknown gentleman, Vienna, Austria.” His first name was Kurt and I probably could find his last name in an old address book, although if he was still alive he would be in his 90s now. But what an excellent role model- he snuck away from his tour group to party with the newly-minted geologists who’d rafted down the Yukon River to run in the race- and he ended up beating us all!

Apparently my name is on a microchip in the STARDUST spacecraft, launched by NASA on February 7, 1999, because I submitted it through the Planetary Society, which I must have belonged to. I also belonged to a women’s hockey organization around the same time, and made several comments on their web page.

I was also reminded of more recent activities. Teaching and presenting to teachers, yes, but also writing letters and signing petitions on environmental and refugee issues.

It occurs to me that I am so much more than the titles I was so distraught about losing in 2018: wife, teacher, daughter. Perhaps I will stop describing myself with nouns at all, and only use adjectives. Enthusiastic. Funny. Curious. Loyal. Intelligent.

Brave.