Rifling through the files preparing numbers for the accountant I find a folder from 1993 and a card Corey made me from a piece of wallpaper and a dollar bill and a fake miniature dollar bill. In her juvenile handwriting she says, “I know this is an odd present but it’s all I could think of.”
 
The year before, the family saw me launch into a phase of self-discovery that included quitting my job as a newspaper editor and staying home going through old journals and making masks from the pages. I had a soul need to differentiate from the me-as-wife-and-mom, and I was working hard to manage a wildly creative self that had suddenly emerged one day and refused to be silent any longer. In the end, divorce followed that rebirth.
 
Corey was not quite ten when she wrote this keenly observant description of me in that card: “Name for you: Purple woman, Mommy, Secret woman, and Mask woman. P.S. I love you.”

Sweetie,
Ry is here for a visit and it feels like the world is a little more whole. We who love you are strengthened when we stand together, behold each other's faces, offer a shared embrace. That the love endures without blemish, without diminishing, without a single scratch on it, is one of the wonders of the universe, and I doubt I could draw breath if I did not feel it surging through us all. 
As the dawning light chases night from the big bay windows I am enjoying one of the early versions of your goddess painting. So much juiciness, honey. So much feminine strength and movement. Thank you my darling child for all you brought to us. You live on in our hearts.
Love,
Mom

Excerpt from a reading Corey had with Gloria Karpinski when she turned 20. Karpinski describes a vision she is having of Corey at the age of 28 or 29, including: "warrior's clothing, like Zena. A short skirt, high boots, a belt with different symbols studded around it, a quiver of arrows around it. Tied around your neck is a queen's cape, and in your hand is a torch, and the fire is blazing, a very powerful symbol. Around your neck is a philosopher's stone, a natural stone with a hole in the middle. A very meaningful symbol for you, because it was a symbol you wore once as a symbol of your authority, like a priestess role. You're wearing that, and the Zena outfit indicates the warrior part of you...warrior as in aligning yourself with a cause you believe in and fighting for it. The quiver is an ability to target things in a very specific way...this quiver means the ability to go to the heart of the matter.... The belt has studded on its symbols...you intend to be powerful in a female body...these are symbols of power...one of them is another torch; the torch is the symbol of carrying enlightenment. The torch leads the way, it goes into the darkness and illuminates the darkness. Also on the belt are two crossed figures, like the comedy and tragedy mask...you know how to use the arts as a way to tell the truth. There is also a quill...."

January 18, 1984, when Corey was eleven years old, she wrote in her journal about wanting peace on earth, and a cure for cancer and for AIDS, and she dreamed of becoming president to make the world a better place. Thank you, Corey, for your big beautiful compassionate heart.
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Dear Corey,
I walked out of the voting booth today and all I could think was how much I wanted to call you and talk about how amazing it was to vote for a WOMYN for president!! I remember when, as a little girl, you told me you wanted to be President of the United States. Honey, it is happening. It is time. I know you feel the wave that is rising now. Julia dreamed of you last night; you were here with us, so real that it couldn’t possibly have been a dream. It is my secret with you how close we are, how I feel you in every breath, how your laugh lives in me, your sparkling eyes are on me, how your love bathes me.
Love, Mom

On May 7, 2013, Corey borrowed seven DVDs from the Calistoga Library, which were due to be returned on May 28. The selection is primarily comedies and drams, the opposite ends of the spectrum. Some were her personal choices but some (Centurion, for example) must have been ones she chose to watch with her fiancé:  Expendables, Dinner for Schmucks, Dark Matter, Analyze That, Black Swan, The Big Year, Centurion.