Our lives were forever changed the day we lost Corey. He was an amazing man who loved the Lord and his family with all that he was. The pain of losing him is like no other. Our only comfort comes from knowing we will see him again someday.

I have moved the slideshow played at Corey's service to it's own post page above, titled "Corey's Memorial Service - August 10, 2010"

Friday, October 15, 2010

A bittersweet surrender...

So one week ago today (last Friday 10/8) I signed off on the papers for the sale of Corey's beloved tractor.  I was really pleased that it was going to sell before winter, but it was hard to see it go...a bittersweet surrender.  I met the gentleman who was purchasing it. I started to cry as I told him, "My husband loved that tractor."  If he hadn't known the situation, he would have thought I was crazy for crying as he handed over to me a bank check for $16K.  Poor guy, I don't think he knew quite what to say. He walked out with me as I went to take one more look at Corey's tractor before leaving. We made some small talk and then I left.
        I came across some pictures on my mother's camera of Corey "working" around our yard.  Aside from his family, there were few things in life that brought Corey as much enjoyment as that tractor did.  In fact, it was almost like part of the family.  I remember a few days after he purchased it, he parked it in a prominent spot on our front lawn for all to see.  He was very proud of his purchase  :) Last year at Halloween we weren't home to give out candy so Corey drove the tractor down to the bottom of our driveway and placed our lit Jack-o-lantern along with the bowl of candy in the bucket loader which he then raised to "kid level."  He was very clever about finding creative uses for it and was frequently trying to test its limits (lifting the Subaru was just one example...) If you click on the photos below you can view them in a larger size.

Last winter we had a good amount of snow on the ground by December.  We live on a cul-de-sac and Corey plowed all the snow into the center of the circle out in front of our house.  It made a great "mountain" for our girls and our neighbor's kids to go sledding down.  Corey enjoyed snowboarding and his efforts were really aimed at shaping a half-pipe out of the massive pile.  Our home sits up on a hill looking out toward the circle and Corey started grooming a trail to snowboard down that started right outside our living room window.  He made several small jumps to ride over as he descending the hill trying to pick up enough speed to make it across the road and all the way up the half-pipe.  It was quite something to watch except that he wasn't able to work out all the kinks before we had a thaw and the project lost its momentum.  But the kids enjoyed playing on it the rest of the winter and that pleased Corey.  The girls loved that their Daddy knew how to have a good time with them.  

On a bit of a random note, I added another song to my playlist.  It goes along with my title...Bittersweet.  Back in our high school days Corey was into some music groups with rather weird names... Husker du, Dinosaur Jr. and Big Head Todd and the Monsters to name a few...I did take a liking to the last one and the song I added, Bittersweet, is one of theirs.  Corey and I slow danced to it outside his car with it playing on his car stereo.  We were heading to a Christmas formal my Junior year of high school (1993).  I had never slow-danced with anyone before (not really a whole lot to it) and so Corey decided he would show me the ropes beforehand  ;)  There were a lot of firsts for me with Corey...the first guy I ever dated, kissed, and slow-danced with!  Needless to say, I was pretty smitten with him :) 

2 comments:

  1. Jill - Your blog is amazing and I love reading your stories about Corey and it is a great place to record your stories and share them. Your girls will forever treasure this. The Subaru in the air is too much. Only Corey! Thinking of you and the girls! - Becca

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  2. I'll never forget the first time we came over for dinner...Corey and Matt went outside to look at the big hole the tractor had put in the front lawn and then disappeared for hours in the woods on the tractor. It was 9pm and there I sat with my new nursing baby and 2 tired kids wondering where in the world they went and I was not very happy. When they came in Corey looked down at the ground and said "sorry Stacy" - which was so cute...and more than I got from Matt! :o) He didn't understand what was wrong with a couple of guys riding a tractor around at night...and I mean, they did NEED to pull that tree out of the woods. :o) We miss him.
    love you,
    The Aubes

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