Flowers for Cory

I asked for a bouquet out of the garden and I was presented with a beautiful mix of colorful flowers grown by my Dad.  In the car I told Mason we were delivering flowers to Uncle Cory.  Mason has never met Cory as he died before Mason was born. 

Cory was my Brother Mike’s best friend who passed away 4 years ago.  Cory was part of our family and like a brother to me.  Although I didn’t see him much after Mike and I graduated, I was always provided with updates on how he was doing when Mike came home for a visit.

I will never forget the day I received a call from my Mom explaining that Cory was missing and presumed drowned in Cowichan Lake.  I prayed that it was all a big mistake and he would be soon found.  He was found but unfortunately it was too late.  Besides losing my Grandfather, Cory was the only other death I had experienced in my 30 years and the pain of loss is indescribable.  To this day I still think of Cory often and visit his grave site as much as I can when I go home to Campbell River to visit.

As we neared our turn-off, I contemplated how I was going to explain to Mason that we were giving flowers to someone he couldn’t see.  I had brought him to the grave yard twice before with me but he was just a baby.  Never taking for granted how intelligent kids are, I didn’t say too much before we arrived.

We opened the gate and entered the field, there was a slight breeze and I was happy to see fresh flowers in the distance.  We walked over to Cory’s grave hand in hand and I knelt down and pointed to Cory’s picture which is displayed on his headstone and told him that this was Uncle Cory.  Mason mumbled something and said ‘died or die’ and I said yes, “Uncle Cory had died and we were there to give him some flowers”.  I can’t be sure if Mason really knew that a graveyard housed dead people. 

We deposited the flowers in a vase full of algae water and cleaned up the pine needles from the marker.  Tears didn’t take long to flood into my eyes and so I kept talking to keep my mind busy.  Mason started to look around the field and was fascinated by the trinkets that were on neighboring graves.  So we took a walk and I read out the names of the people that laid beneath them.  Mason wanted to know why there were little toys and whatnot around.  So I explained that there were presents that people left behind or things they enjoyed (like a fish for fishing). 

We walked beside a few graves that held children and that is always hard to see.  A baby that did not live to 1 and a young guy not quite 10.  So very sad, I thought for a brief moment of the pain that parents must endure of outliving their own children. 

It was time to say goodbye and tell Cory that we love and miss him and we soon we were back in the car and on our way.

 

Always in our hearts

Cory Ryan LaFleur

1979 - 2007


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