The Legend has moved on

At 6 AM on September 15 2017, Catherine Marie Kloppenburg passed away.  She was the biggest pain in the ass I have ever known.  She was stubborn, head strong, petty, selfish, and all kinds of other words that older brothers call their sisters.  She was also my best friend.  The kind of friend that only a little sister can be.  She was a fighter in both the literal and figurative sense. She was a caring, compassionate friend. She was a daughter who cared more about our mother in the last months of her life than she did herself. Cathy was the kind of person you loved or hated, sometimes both at the same time. The one thing she was not, was forgettable.

It is funny how you always have your own persective on someone and hold that idea to be true until you see and meet other people they have known.  Being able to spend time at the hospital and chat with Cathy’s friends gave both our mother and I a different perspective of the Cathy we had known her whole life.  She has affected so many people’s lives through her actions and words that trying to come up with some kind of summary of her feels cheap and hollow.  Saying that, I am not going to even try.  I have my idea of who my sister was to me and for now, I want to keep that myself.  Remember my sister on your terms, not on mine or anyone else’s, that is certainly what she would have insisted on.

She was very aware of the circumstances that she was going to die under and made that her final challenge.  She knew she wouldn’t win, but damned if she wasn’t going to try.  We kept hearing from Drs that she only had X amount of time left. I developed what I call, “Cathy Time” after a while.  When she was told months it was really years, weeks were months, days were weeks, hours were days.  Cathy did not let Drs or nurses dictate how she was going live her life, and she kept that up to the very end.  Cathy lived on her terms, Cathy died on her terms.

It was quite fitting that on my way to the hospital this morning that Cathy’s favourite song came on the radio. Everyone who met her would certainly agree that she was Ahead by a Century. The Tragically Hip was the first big concert she went to, and the last.  When she found out that the lead singer had cancer and it would be their last tour, she was adamant that she was going to be in the stands for that concert.  Despite being one of the fastest concert tours in Canada to sell out, Cathy as always found a way.

One of the requests that Cathy made was to have this blog printed out and put into a book for our mom.  Cathy’s journey will be preserved and her words will always be available to our mom to read and reflect on, along with all of the comments and notes attached to each post. For those of you that have followed Cathy through her blog, Facebook, or email and supported her throughout her journey; our family thanks you.  I wish there was a deeper more meaningful way to express the gratitude we feel towards you, but I can’t come up with anything.  She cherished the support that everyone gave to her and writing this blog gave her a sense of joy and purpose that she needed in her life especially towards the end. She enjoyed sharing her story and looked forward to the comments and well wishes.

I know that there isn’t a lot here but I am at a loss for what to write anymore.  I cannot sum up 38 years in a few paragraphs, pages, or books.  Cathy was a truly individual spirit and I am going to miss her more than any words I can ever gather.

Good-bye little sister. I love you. I miss you.