Pictured here is the amazing Crystal doing a lovely hooping backbend pose. Crystal is one of my many dear west coast hooper-friends. She and her mom stumbled upon my hooplog not too long ago, and a connection was made. You see, Crystal and I have both recently lost very dear family members to cancers in the brain region: I lost my Mother, Mimi, and Crystal lost her little brother, Cole. Crystal and Cole’s mom wrote to me to tell me about a hoop-a-thon fundraiser that her daughter Crystal, an avid hoopdancer, has put on for the last two years to help stop cancer from happening to other kids. When they read about my own Capital Hoop For Hope fundraiser in DC this past year, they reached out to connect and express appreciation for our mutual, bi-coastal efforts to eradicate brain and brain stem cancers. Cheers to the charitable hoopers out there, and here’s to my most inspiring new friend of 2007, Crystal~ Let us all keep on hooping for hope!