Cory’s memorial service has been posted online for those of us who couldn’t be there in person. I downloaded it as soon as it was available. At the time I originally wrote this post, I hadn’t yet watched the service. I just couldn’t do it. I’d start to play it, and had to stop it within the first two minutes.
After I wrote this post and published it, I knew it was time. I put on my headphones, grabbed some tissue and hit that play button again. I laughed, and I cried. I kept wishing so much that I had been able to afford the plane ticket to be there. I have so many stories of Cory that I could have shared… showing a side of him that his family never even realized existed until after he was gone.
My vow is to try to put those stories and memories into words, to pass along to those of you who never knew “Gimpi” online. He was much the same as he was in his “real” life, of course. But he was so much more than that. Cory was son, friend, brother, counselor, trickster, prankster, instigator, advisor… wait. You’re shaking your head at me. And, you’re right… Cory was all of that in person, as much as he was to all of us online.
Unfortunately, the video file is too large to embed here. I’m working on a way to make it smaller, or get it on to YouTube (or a similar site) so that I can embed it here forever. If anyone has ideas as to how to accomplish this, I would appreciate the advice. For now, I will simply link you to where you can go to watch.