My friend Correy

Melissa sent this to us on September 13, 2009 and I just couldn't get through it then to post it. I will try now.

by Melissa Norman
(pictured: Correy, Matt and Melissa)

Correy is my protector and always has been. AS the only girl in a group of guys I was the common target of mockery; but let's be honest, I was really easy target. While sometimes Correy participated in their favorite activity of making fun of me, he also stood up for me. If any of the other guys ever said anything and I just gave Correy a look or said his name, he would come to my rescue. Sadistically I enjoyed that Mike kind of feared him even though he was bigger and Matt would always flinch prematurely knowing Correy would actually hit him. After a while Correy started to teach me some of his martial arts tricks so I could challenge Matt as well as he could. I don't know if you know about either one of these, but the two main ones he showed me were the nail trick and the thumb trick. He was my protector in life and I know he'll continue to be.

Though I'm sure if he were around to deny it, he would sure try, but Correy had narcissistic tendencies. Specifically in high school, if there was a reflective surface within his vicinity, his reflection would show up on it. I don't think there was a night at Matt's house when the sliding glass doors didn't get a glimpse of Correy's abs.

Correy was such a kleptomaniac, especially when my purse was around. I'm not saying he would steal things ever, but any chance he got with the turn of my head, my keys would have disappeared to his pocket, my phone would magically have a picture of him as my screensaver, and there would be an impromptu, myspace style photo shoot ready to view on my camera. Every time we got together I know it was coming but I never caught him in the act. The last time I saw him back in July, I had just gotten my new phone and he did it again. So his picture is still my background and I found out when I had to turn my phone off and on to come on the plane home for the funeral that he changed the greetings message to "Hola bitches." Crazy kid.

Correy is one of those guys that touched everyone who met him with his beautiful smile, bright blue eyes, and unmistakable laugh. Over the past few years, after I left for school, we didn't get to spend as much time together as we used to or talk as much as we previously had. But we always got together at least once every time I came home to sit at the exact same table at the Starbucks on Snell and Santa Teresa. It was those times with him that I enjoyed the most because we went from not talking for months to picking up exactly where we left off like it had been only five minutes. It was there that we acted as faux therapists for each other, where we shared things that we didn't share with other people, and where he got to laugh at me on multiple occasions when I spilled hot chocolate in my lap. I think the hardest part about theses memories is that we were supposed to get together before I moved down to LA in the beginning of August because he told me he had stuff he needed to talk to me about. Unfortunately, something came up for him on the night we were supposed to get together but we made plans for Thanksgiving weekend. I think I'll always wonder about what it was he wanted to tell me, but I know he really was looking forward to telling me about Rachel, and though the circumstances were not in anyway ideal, I was glad I finally got to meet her because he had wanted me to.

I already posted on the blog about the baking cookies story, but there are so many other things that will always make me think of him. I don't know if any of them compare to Correy-memory-items of your lives but I thought I'd share mine. Here are some things in my life that always make me think of Correy, but even more so now; nude beaches (as he decided that would be a good place to take our little group of friends on the day when the wind wanted to blow sand that hurt, and the lone naked man was laying in the middle of the beach), baking and cookies (as mentioned online), whipped cream (from last Thanksgiving when he attacked Matt with half the can and put the other half into his mouth at one time), ripped jeans (because Correy used to wear these light blue jeans that had a hole in the crotch and would sit with his legs wide open because he thought it was funny), worn down shoes (as I had to beg him time and time again to buy new sandals because the ones he wore didn't stay together and had holes in the bottom), Natalie Portman (because both he and Tony are OBSESSED), country music, and his farting contests with himself. I don't think anyone will ever forget those.

The first time I met Correy was sophomore year in high school in our PE class. The only thing that I really remember about that year was that he constantly talked about turkey, in any form, would tell me he was going to soccer every day (even though he was actually going to martial arts), and how I would always see him, Matt and Tony playing games on their calculators at lunch. We bonded over writing and a love of country music and my unquenched curiosity that existed with me asking questions and him weasling out of answers (most of the time). He is a great man and I am so proud to be his friend. I will miss him so much, as I'm sure many people will. I went though all of my things once I got back to LA after the funeral and became thankful for my packrat tendencies. Correy and I were penpals for the first few years we were in college, and after reading through his letters, I was able to see how his life and goals progressed. They began right when Correy first signed up for scuba, before he developed his passion for it, where his career goals were at first uncertain, then he wanted to be a doctor/anthropologist like Bones, until finally he decided upon wanting to combine anthropology and scuba. I also found my old yearbooks and found what he wrote; he definitely had a way with words and wrote beautifully. One of my favorite things I found was a "diploma" he made me a few years ago. It has an honored spot on my wall, as it always has, though now it has an even more special meaning.

Correy was, is, and will always be one of my favorite people and I know his memory will live on in minds and hearts of all the people who love him as much as you do, and I do, and the boys do.