Meet Kelly

Please meet Kelly Westbrook Moore. Kelly is currently going through chemotheraphy,  following recent surgery for colon cancer. Kelly will be a new passenger with me on this year's PMC.

Kelly the teacher.

Kelly and ZuZu

I grew up with Kelly in Hallsville, TX, She's been a teacher for the last 32 years and married to Mark Moore for over 30 years.  She and Mark have 3 beautiful daughters, Brook, Madison and Holly -- and a cute little Shitzu/Dachsund named ZuZu. 

Although her last name is now Moore,  I'll always think of her as Kelly Westbrook. Kelly was 2 years ahead of me in school and a classmate with my sister, Bonnie. I got to know Kelly mostly from our time together in High School Band. 

Kelly's Senior pic from my yearbook.

The very first rock-n-roll band I ever played in practiced at Kelly's house. That's notable  because nobody in her family was actually in our band -- her parents just let 4 kids come into their house and make noise...  (That should be a "tell" that there's a generous streak that runs through Kelly's family...)  My memory of the Westbrook kids is that they were all a very outgoing bunch, full of joie de vivre -- and Kelly is no exception. 

Check out the medals!

I haven't seen Kelly in decades, but I can picture her clear as day. And I can't conjure up a single memory of Kelly where she's not laughing out loud about one thing or another. I went to an old yearbook to look for some pictures and found a few of my favorite "Kelly pics" that I'll just share here...

One of my favorite yearbook pictures of Kelly.

And while all that yearbook trolling was extremely entertaining for me, I have to confess that my new favorite picture of Kelly is the one below, which I found on her Facebook page.

I couldn't find the artist's name, but it's apparently one of Kelly's students. I never really knew what Kelly's super power was until now.  But I'd also be surprised if that were her only super power.

So I am proud and honored to take Kelly -- a bona fide superhero -- along with my other passengers on this year's PMC.

Kelly, when you read this I hope that I haven't written anything here that embarrassed you. And I hope that maybe I even made you laugh a little-- just like I remember. That would make me happy. That'll be your another of your super powers.