But then there is that occasional glimmer of who Corey was the other 22 years and 10 months of his life.

The other night we were eating at a Mexican restaurant when Justin brought up one of his favorite stories to tell about Corey eating out.

We were eating in El Maguey on a early Summer evening on Noland road about 5 or 6 years ago. We’d just been seated when I saw Justin and Corey’s heads both pop up at the same time. They almost had their own language at times, so this wasn’t uncommon.

They looked into each other’s eyes, and began laughing. It started with a chuckle at first, but then they began laughing hard enough that Josh looked up.

When Josh looked up, Corey pointed toward the ceiling. Josh cocked his head to one side and started laughing… which made his brothers laugh even harder.

By this time I was completely lost, and Corey had tears running down his cheeks. Finally he said, “MOM!! LISTEN!!”

When I finally listened, I realized the music playing was “Feliz Navidad”!

About that time, the waiter started to walk by, and one of the boys got his attention. Corey said, “Sir? Do you realize you are playing Christmas music?”

The waiter didn’t miss a beat. Before walking away, he said, “Si! Merry Christmas!”

This made the boys lose all control of their laughter.

I’d give anything if I could quit thinking of the last 36 hours of his life… and could only remember the other 22 years and 10 months.

But that’s not the way PTSD works.
But I’m not going to give up trying.