Kim
“Treat those around you like there is no tomorrow with them.”
She has an infectious chuckle, an r-rated sense of humour and a door that is always open. No matter what is going on in her own life, if someone needs her - she’ll be there. Meet Kim. This is her story.
Kim, by the water (her happy place)
P: Please introduce yourself!
K: I’m Kim Kamp. I’m a Wife, Mom, dog Mom, Sister, Daughter, Aunt, and friend. I live in Ontario, Canada with my husband of 29 years, my son and daughter, 2 dogs, 1 grand-dog and 3 stray cats (living outside). Professionally, I work in the Pharmaceutical industry.
I enjoy my spare time cozied up at our family country home, sometimes watching a sappy chick flick, and spend summer weekends and vacations at our family cottage on the same lake as my Dad.
I’m someone who always has the music playing - car, home, cottage, wherever I am! And it’s usually country.
P: Describe or define yourself in your own words.
K: Someone who is reliable, caring, compassionate, hard-working and a total sap when it comes to animals and my family. I am also an open book with a sometimes, inappropriate, or rude sense of humour.
P: Describe or define yourself in your own words.
K: I like to think I’m a best friend and a thoughtful person. Someone that people can rely on. Someone who would drop everything if someone needed me.
P: Tell us a story. Have you had an experience that’s defined you or made you stronger?
Sorry hard to keep this one short......My husband and I had planned our wedding for June of 1992. At the end of 1991, one of my best friends was killed in a drunk driving accident at the age of 25. She was hit from behind by a drunk driver, the morning of Grey Cup Sunday.
Less than a month after that tragedy, I got a call at work one day. My Mom was calling from the hospital and asked for my Dad, my brother, and I to come. She had gone to the hospital with weakness in her arm. The Specialist took us into a meeting room, without my Mom, sat us down and said “Well the good news is she didn’t have a stroke, the bad news is I’m 99.9% sure she has a brain tumour that she won’t survive more than 6 months to a year”. My first reaction was, “she will never see my children”.
My Mom had surgery to remove her brain tumour within the month, but came out of the surgery, with difficulty speaking and paralysis on the right side of her body. She was now permanently in a wheelchair. We moved our wedding date up to April to ensure she could be there, per the Family Doctor’s recommendation. We did the best to help my Mom improve and recover, while also trying to keep her involved in the wedding planning, always hoping for some miraculous recovery.
Less than 2 months after our wedding, my Mom ironically, was admitted to the hospital on the Friday that would have been our original rehearsal party date, and passed away the following Tuesday. She was 62. I think I cried every night when I went to bed that first year she passed.
I took on taking care of things when my Dad needed. My Mom was always the one who did the cooking, looked after the finances and everything in between. I feel like that short 7 months, made me grow up a little faster and become a little stronger.
P: What is one piece of advice you’d give to your younger self?
K: Love your family, love yourself. Treat those around you like there is no tomorrow with them. Treat yourself like you have a long life to live, and take care of you, physically, spiritually and mentally.
P: What does being a woman mean to you?
K: Caring, nurturing, supporting, loving, doing. I think these things as women, come to us naturally. We are strong, very strong. We have children, we raise them, we have jobs, we look after our home, our family, our extended family, we try to be a good friend, a good co-worker, a good employee, and basically just a good person all around. It’s a lot of work being a woman!
P: Who is one woman that inspires you? What would you say to her if she were here now?
K: Of course I will say my Mom. Like she was, I have become the planner, tradition holder, the hostess, the one to remember everyone’s birthdays and little details (thanks to my planner). Like her, I am the cook, and made sure it was a priority to always eat meals as a family when my kids were growing up, and still today. Like my Mom, I realized the importance of enjoying meals with family and friends. When she passed, I was 25. Naive at the time, thinking she’d had a somewhat long life. Now that I’m in my 50s, I realize how short her life really was.
She completed high school, got a full-time job and helped her family financially. Even in her generation, she worked outside the home, raised two children, took care of my Dad, her Mom, her siblings, our household and all that entailed. She was wonder woman.
If I could speak to her again, and I do speak to her spiritually, I would tell her how much I love her and miss her, how much I wish she’d been there for me when I had my children, how much I wish she was still here with us and how very proud I am of her and all she did.
Closing this off with tears.