Cory

If you look up the word Stubborn in the dictionary, it will describe my oldest friend.

We have been friends for over 30 years now. Through all these years, we’ve maybe had 1 or 2 disagreements. I was right both times but whose counting? Oppositely, I can never remember time spent with him that didn’t include a lot of laughter. That’s one commonality all my friends have, they make me laugh.

We met at a branding. I was a city kid posing as a country boy from Stettler, and we were at a branding in Linden. Tribalism was alive, and after branding we squared off to play football. Linden vs Stettler. At some point I decided to punch or spit at someone, and a rumble ensued. This was when I met Cory. He was from Linden, I was from Stettler, and it was his older brother Brad who I had got in a scrap with.

A year later, my family moved to Linden. It didn’t take long and we became fast friends. It was a true friendship. We did not always like the same things, but we always liked each other. I loved Sports, Cory loved Ranching and Horses.

I enjoyed horses too, just not as much as Cory. I needed a horse though, so Cory took me to the Olds Auction Mart.

“That looks like a good horse.” Cory pointed out.

“Ya?” I questioned him.

“Yup” he replied, “Nice and gentle.”

The horse loaded up gently, I’ll give him that. We almost made it home before it started kicking the trailer relentlessly.

“Ya, you got to be careful buying a horse at an Auction.” Cory enlightened me. “Sellers drug them.”

“Huh.” I thought to myself. “I didn’t recall him saying that at the Auction.”

That horse was the worst behaved horse you could imagine, but boy could he run. Cory and his parents took me Horse riding near Blue Rock, and to this day its one the coolest things I have ever done, and I have done a lot of fun things. That horse was alive up until recently, it was a very good horse.

More often than not we were partners in Crime. At a school where singing was important, we both refused. Our class of 8, Gene, Jay, myself, Cory, Stanley, Cindy, Carmen, and Marlyss, must’ve been the most punished Class in that schools history. Im not sure we ever learned from those consequences.

After we graduated, Cory went to toil in Agriculture, and I sought employment in Residential Construction. Our paths took us in different directions. When I got engaged, I invited him to my wedding. He said he was coming, but He didn’t make. He sometimes feels bad about this, I pretend like it bothered me, but it didn’t. I just enjoy making him feel guilty. I knew the reasons why, I even respected them. Our friendship was much stronger than that little detail.

Cory is honest. Cory cares about the truth more than anyone I know. And, this is precisely why he is stubborn. He’s stubborn because he refuses to deal in anything but truth.

How do you not respect that?

He owns a Trucking Company. Recently I jumped in with him and tagged along on a BC run. It was probably 12 hours of driving with loading and unloading, but felt like 20 min.

We talked about God, Jesus, people we grew up with, politics, business, kids and more. We don’t always agree, but we both see the humour in all of it, and usually we end laughing till our sides ache.

These days I have been very reclusive. Friends ask me out, I rarely go. People call, I don’t answer. To be honest I have been in a rut. Struggling. I always struggle. That is the truth. I am guessing almost everyone does.

I think one thing myself and Cory have in common is the desire to separate from groups. We like to go our own way. Do our own thing. We never felt like we fit in anywhere, and surprisingly 30 years later I think we both still feel this way. Maybe we all do? But I certainly always feel at ease when I spend time with Cory. We get each other.

So I guess when you have a friend that always makes you laugh and helps you live a better life, you should be thankful.

At my age, its doubtful I will make new lifelong friends. So, I lucked out with a friend like Cory, and others I’ve mentioned.

Cory, if you read this, I can’t wait for my Christmas present. Surely, with 2 months notice, I should receive a gift this year. Thanks for being my friend, I know its not always easy.

If you read this far, thank you.

Tris