Katie Creer: The One that Makes Everything Brighter

The seasons are changing here in Romania from Summer to Autumn. The leaves on the trees are turning yellow and orange and beginning to fall from the branches. The biggest change for us here, however, will be losing one of our group.

Katie went down to Bucharest Wednesday morning (10-1-08) with Robby to have her leg looked at by some doctors there, only to find out she had two blood clots in her left calf. For the full story, you can click the link to her blog on my page. Rachel and I caught a train Friday night at 11:20 pm that arrived in Bucharest at 5:50 am this morning to bring her all her belongings so that she can go to Vienna until she'll be stable enough to fly home. It was a bitter-sweet experience getting to see her one last time and seeing her optimism despite her condition, knowing that she'll be leaving us. I feel like it is appropriate that Katie gets a little shout-out for everything she's done over the past 5 weeks.

One of my favorite stories of Katie is from when we visited Brasov our first weekend in Romania. We were actually on our way to the Train Station in Brasov getting ready to head back to Bucharest where we'd get on our next train back to Iasi. Anyways, we had all stopped at a little kiosk to buy water and other goodies. One type of candy bar Katie had discovered was called a "Yup" and is kind of like a giant Kit-Kat. She had been standing behind me in line, so after I made my purchases and was putting them in my bag, I hear Katie say to the vendor "Can I get a yup?". When I heard that I looked up and saw Katie standing in front of the Kiosk looking unsure if the vendor understood her, so she held up her index finger and said "Un yup?" (as in "One yup?"). Now that I write this story out it doesn't seem that funny, but it's one of my favorites just because of how funny Katie is and how funny her request sounded. "Can I get a yup? . . . un . . . yup?". Seriously, it was really funny.

Katie, we're all going to miss you so much. You brought so much to our group that cannot be replaced. Your positive attitude, enthusiasm, and sense of humor make everyone else around you happier. We'll miss you, but we're glad that you'll be able to have an opportunity to make a full recovery, as well as be back with Jeremy and the rest of your loved ones. Thanks for everything, and get better soon!!!