Cathryn Danette Pearson, 1959-2012

My older sister, Cathy, died around noontime on Tuesday, Oct. 30. She would have been 53 in December.

My family learned that she had been hospitalized for about a month with a liver condition in Southern California. She had been unable to work for a few years due to disability. Our communication was scatter-shot over the past decade.

The last time I experienced the death of someone this close to me was in 1993, when my best friend at the time died from complications of AIDS. I was utterly unsure how my psyche was supposed to reform itself for awhile. I'm feeling that same experience now, and I don't really know what to say.

I will say this. I'm not sure if you've ever noticed, but I have this little fondness for music. I could say my interest in it generated by itself, but in reality, I think my passion for it started when my older sisters brought home Stevie Wonder's Innervisions album, and it took off from there.

I also think it's okay to say that Cathy's search for inner peace was something I always thought about, because I was on that search for a long time. I suppose we've both found it now.

So long sis.

Thanks.