Caring for Cathy

I want to tell you a story of one of the most incredible women I have ever had the pleasure to meet. I worked with this woman for just a few short years, and in that time I grew to know and love her. In the grocery store setting where we worked, everything was hectic. Customers in long lines with carts brimming full with groceries for the week, infants in carts crying to be let down, loudspeakers with announcements booming across the store and interrupting conversations, spills of groceries that needed to be cleaned up instantly less someone slip and fall, frustrated customers raising their voices in anger over this or that issue, the ding of the registers as cashiers rushed to tender customer's orders, conversations between customers and employees constantly buzzing all around the store. In that loud, hectic environment it could be easy to feel like a person could get lost. Could become unseen, unheard, could become like just another ant in the anthill marching about.

And yet, this woman was somehow able to cut through all the noise to notice and appreciate everyone around her. She seemed to be a mama bear to other employees, giving advice and lending a listening ear to anyone who would listen. Despite her own physical limitations which she battled daily, she would do anything for anyone regardless of how she felt.  Somedays, she was in so much pain that it hurt her to walk. Even then, she put everyone around her first. It didn't matter if it was a fellow employee or a customer. She was going to be present in the moment with you, notice and acknowledge you, and send you on your way with a smile or a laugh. It didn't matter how she felt, it only mattered to her that she was there for everyone else before herself.

                     Cathy Wright Dodge (courtesy of Facebook)

Not only that, but much to my delight this woman was also into quite a bit of "nerd" culture. She loved Dr. Who and musicals and popular films and music. One day, she found out that one of the employees had never seen the popular movie The Princess Bride. Along with myself and seven other employees, we all proceeded to joke with the eighth employee by only conversing in quotes from the popular movie for the next few hours. All eight of us were laughing, egged on by this wonderful woman, and despite the one employee being bewildered by what all the quotes meant he laughed along with us and enjoyed the playful teasing. Needless to say, when he finally watched the film, he came into work joking with everyone about the movie and how much we had made his day.

This sweet, funny, nerdy, wonderful woman's name is Cathy Wright Dodge.

Cathy Wright Dodge, her husband Shane Dodge, and their three children were more than just your ordinary family. They fluently spoke to one another in the language of loving sarcasm, and always unified together to build each other up and encourage one another towards their futures. They were active and loving members of North Windham Union Church, the members of whom they considered an extension of their family. Every day was an adventure of some kind or another. The family wasn't what you might consider to be  financially rich, but they were rich with the love they shared and the generosity they showed to their fellow man.

      Cathy and Shane's children (courtesy of Facebook),
                    Abby Dodge, Aaron Dodge, and Anna Dodge

Shane and Cathy had that one of a kind love, that spark that everyone dreams about. They were soulmates, and led their family with that spark of love at the core. Even during those inevitable difficult times that every family experiences, the two leaders of the family continued to nurture that spark to raise their children with love always at the center. Shane was the primary care-taker for the family, and despite their difficulties to make ends meet always did everything he could to provide for his bride and the children they loved so much. Cathy and Shane did everything they could to make sure their children's needs were being met, even if it meant that the couple had to forgo personal wants or needs to ensure that was done.

Cathy Wright Dodge and Shane Dodge (courtesy of Facebook)

Tragedy struck the family a few weeks after their middle daughter Anna graduated from high school, and just about a week after Cathy celebrated her own birthday. Shane suddenly and unexpectedly passed away on Saturday, June 17, 2017, the day before Father's Day. He was only 45 years old. The family was devastated at the sudden loss of their beloved husband and father, this kind, funny, generous, sarcastic man they loved so very much .  Everyone within the community the family had built was shook to the core, knowing that life for both the family and their community would never be the same. The community around them was devestated to lose the man they had grown to love so much for his big laugh and even bigger heart.

Gathered together in her home with her children, her son traveling back home from his residence in California, Cathy struggled to make sense of the tragedy for herself and her children. One way she did so was by engaging herself and her children in slightly inappropriate humor (that she knew Shane would love) addressing the loss of Shane. I'm positive he was looking down and laughing along with his family.

                                      Shane Dodge (courtesy of Facebook)

In Shane's obituary, Cathy asked that any donations a person might consider making to the family be in the form of donations to their children's college funds. Currently, Cathy is fighting hard to make ends meet for her and her three children while learning to live without the love of her life. Cathy deserves nothing but the best, and wants to give that to her children. But she can't afford to give them everything she wants to, no matter how hard she pushes herself or how far beyond her limits she does so. What was once a team effort has now been placed onto Cathy's shoulders, and while she bears as much as she can, it is a large and difficult burden for this loving mother.

I ask that the person reading this story considers giving financially to Cathy and her children, and helping this woman who has always helped everyone else without asking for anything in return. Cathy has given and given of herself, as did her husband Shane. Together the couple was selfless and loving. I firmly believe that good deeds and pure hearts should be supported and rewarded, when so often in today's world they seemingly go ignored and taken for granted.  I ask you to please seriously consider giving to Cathy and her three children as they face this difficult world without the love and support they had in their husband and father, Shane Dodge.  They are all so deserving of the best this world can offer them, and right now they are feeling lost as they try to discover what this new world looks like for them. I could share so many things Cathy has done for me personally. I'm sure others could share THEIR stories of what Shane and Cathy have done for them. And I ask that in Shane's memory, in Cathy's honor, and for their childrens' futures, you consider helping light the way for these beautiful people.

                           Cathy and Shane (courtesy of Facebook)