many of you may know one of the “best women” from our wedding — cathy.

after a valiant and heroic battle with cancer, she passed away this past saturday.  she is an angel now.

i cannot tell you how sad and angry this makes me.  and for so many reasons.

cathy is alison’s best friend.  i have remained as strong as i can for alison, but the truth is…  it is difficult to know what to say.  i could easily break down with her at the same time, but i fear that every situation requires a rock.  and i plan on being that guy.

it was quite a period of time after alison and i started dating that i had the opportunity to first meet cathy.  i was nervous — i wanted to make a good impression.  cathy was in nyc for a YSC (i think…) event and we met at a bar near her hotel.  i have often been accused of bringing “life” into a room, but i pale in comparison to the energy she brought into that room.  and every room i saw her in.  we were immediate friends.  she ordered grasshoppers.  we laughed.  i got the dirt on alison’s college years…  we laughed some more.  and then cathy did something very, um, “cathy-like”.  in the midst of a discussion on breast cancer, she whipped out her fake boob and plopped on the bar.   *pause*  HUGE laughter.  it is that sound — of her laughing — of the three of us laughing together — that i think about constantly now.  and that feeling is something that cancer, or anything else, cannot take away.

alison’s blog:  http://www.aliladd.com/

alison & eric wedding website:  http://www.alisonanderic.org/

CarePages — The Fight:  http://www.carepages.com/ServeCarePage?cpn=TheFight

Young Survival Coalition — Message Board:  http://www.youngsurvival.org/blocks/_Forum/index.php?showtopic=23082

Pugilicious:  Baptism:  http://pugilicious.blogspot.com/2008/03/baptism.html