Hi i’m Tanner and Cody was my best good buddy. It feels like only a small time ago that I was up here in the Okanagan standing on a stage, on a chair speaking about the man Cody was for his wedding. Today I am not going to stand on a chair, not because I don’t feel he deserves but truthfully I worry I might break the chair *smack belly*. Today is a celebration of the life Cody lived and although I am sure I am either already crying or will cry excessively I am going to try and keep it more light hearted and happy, as much as is possible.
Loss makes us all think about our own life, what are we leaving behind, what is our legacy, what have we not been able to do. I find comfort in knowing Cody lived a very full life. His legacy is more than his four beautiful girls and the life he was able to start for his family but also a legacy of fun unabashed, sometimes debaucherous good times. Cody left many memories on my life that I will eternally carry with me some of them physically in our late night slap offs, but most of them carved in the permanent smile that was on our faces growing up. Whether it was countless afternoons at Seans playing super smash, endless nights at Collen and Roxes playing rock band late into the night, or belting shinedown tunes in the 98 Accord. Cody recognized that success in life wasn’t defined by the stuff you had but the experiences you had acquired. He was never one to shy away from a weekend away snowboarding, camping or a good old fashioned house party, of which there was many. Sorry Colleen and Rox, I promise none of those scuffs on the pool table were me. But Cody was studious as well. He spent time as an early adult studying robotic engineering at SFU for countless hours, only stopping to wreck some noobs as only Malgor Defender of the Alliance could. Later in life sitting in his crane he would also do some studying, though this time he would go down rabbit holes I can only define as conspiracy theories, I’m sorry buddy but Bill Gates has not yet revealed his lizard person lineage…
It feels weird to talk about privilege when remembering a friend, but to say I am privileged is an understatement. I was and am lucky enough to have called Cody my best friend for 22 years. From the first days meeting in computer science class in grade 8 to constantly getting beat in sparring at Taekwondo because of those crazy long gangly legs. I am privileged to have a friend who would call me almost daily just to talk about nothing and everything. I am privileged to have a friend who let me rent a room in his house and live and grow up with his family, even if I wasn’t the best of roommates sometimes, Sorry Tams, I did try and keep it down. I am privileged to have played many rounds of golf with you where wither one of us would shoot well into the 100’s and have to talk each other down from the ‘I am never playing this stupid freaking game again’ yells out to the green. I am privileged to have gotten to stand beside you as you married the love of your life in the freezing cold of a snowy blizzard.
Although I will never be the man you were. I do like to think you played a big part in shaping the man I am today.
I don’t say no to new opportunities, sometimes he would say I take this too literally, another beer is a not a new opportunity Tanner.
I love despite a difference or grudge that I might be holding. Although I still haven’t found the one I think he would find joy in the amount of trying.
I am myself and I don’t let others affect what I want to do or be. I grew this big moustache despite the countless jokes of ‘how far from a school are we right now’
I care endlessly for my friends. I guess this wasn’t to mean I am always down to party but Cody was always down to party, so I’ll leave it in.
I am an avid defender of the alliance even to this day. Bozieas and Swiftbear will continue to fight the horde in Malgors name.
And I never will forget where I came from and how I got here.
Cody instilled many more lessons upon me, lots not made for great halls and celebrations of life but more for social circles with a beer.
I had been writing this speech for sometime now and I never got to how to finish it. I would always end up crying too much and then move on to something else or just add more notes that weren’t a finisher but I think I found it this morning. The following is from Robert Jordans fantasy series a Wheel of Time, a series both Cody and I loved very much.
“I'm a gambler, a farmboy, and I'm here to take command of your bloody army!
oh sorry I am not Mat Cauthon shouting a charge in battle. This is the right one.
“We rode on the winds of the rising storm,
We ran to the sounds of the thunder.
We danced among the lightning bolts,
and tore the world asunder.”
Cody i’ll love you always and forever brother. Until we meet again.
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