By Deborah Guydish We are here, bereaved and bereft of a very special person and a great love in our lives. In my 36 years with Cathy, I’ve come to know how much each of you loved her, and how very much she loved each of you. Time and again Cathy shared with me very special experiences she had with each of you, and she held them dear in her heart her whole life. I know that you have these same memories, and I want to acknowledge how much respect and caring those memories deserve. I know how you knew her, and how she knew you. You meant as much to her as she did to you, believe that. I want to share with you the things that brought us together and kept us together, through thick and thin, sickness and health, for better and worse. These are things you already know, like the brilliant mind she had – shining like a diamond every time she spoke. How much I loved that! She had a way of putting things together and coming up with just the right comment, usually ironic or sarcastic- such a smart mouth, sometimes I couldn’t believe what came out of it, but it was always wonderful. Her sense of humor in seeing the odd things in life kept my life in perspective. I valued and respected her street smarts, and was grateful for it. Cathy ran our social life, and she was better at it than I could ever hope to be. She had a way of relating to everyone, no matter what or whom. She would say,” of course, they’re my species.” And she had so much fun being with people. Everyone knows about Cathy’s vanity and the high maintenance person she was. She was worth every bit of it. We remember her temper, quickly come and even more quickly forgiven and forgotten. She baffled most of us with her skill with all things electronic. I don’t think there are any electronics in the house, and there are a lot, that I can run without her. Her favorite flowers were sunflowers. She did horoscopes for a few of you. She was addicted to true crime stories and weird HBO and Showtime series. Her taste for films was most definitely offbeat, and avant-garde for theater. She was crazy dedicated to the Steelers, to and beyond all sports superstitions, and she enjoyed it tremendously. She had a great passion for all kinds of music, and animals, and most especially her devotion to her dog, Indigo, fully returned - and who is now also bereaved. Most of all, you all know, Cathy was stubborn. Stubborn, persistent, determined, and completely refusing to accept anything less than exactly what she wanted. And we all know, she usually got it. Those same qualities shone through her fight with cancer. Amazing courage and bravery, astounding persistence, and a complete and utter refusal to give in, setback after setback, to the very last breath. She wanted to fight, and please allow me to tell you that she said she would fight cancer to her last breath, and that she would die at home. Let the facts stand, that her last conscious act was a chemotherapy session, and that even unconscious, she fought hard for each breath - to the very last one. She died at home, with me and Indigo, in her own bed. She got what she wanted. Try to find comfort in knowing that. I hope that she is with those she loved that are gone. Her mother, her grandfather, her grandmother, her cousins, aunts and uncles. That would make her so happy. Most of all I hope you all hold her in your heart until that time comes for all of us, and keep those memories of the good times she shared with each of you. I know that I will never stop loving her and, honestly, only because of having had her and lost her, I hope it’s true that we can be together again in an afterlife. So, one final thing. The next time you have a drink in your hand, raise a glass to Cathy. You know that would make her grin. Thank you all, everyone here and everyone who wanted to be but couldn’t, for your love and compassion for Cathy while she was with us.