{"id":62225,"date":"2025-05-11T06:07:46","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T10:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/?p=62225"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:29:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T14:29:06","slug":"before-i-fly-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/avant-de-menvoler\/","title":{"rendered":"Before I fly away"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before I fly away, will I manage to remove my heart from its case of sorrow? I was a woman, then assumed the role of a man for my children, and here I am today, neither one or the other for myself. I sometimes feel as if my heart might stop beating, as if an angel were about to remove the batteries. I\u2019m holding on by a thread and I only have an inkling of what eternity might look like. I cling tightly to the idea of time as something that has no beginning or end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before I fly away, I\u2019ll bless my three children. One daughter and two sons, all in their fifties now. They\u2019re my reason for living, my pride and joy, and my legacy here on Earth. They gave me four grandsons and two granddaughters as well as two great-grandsons. What tremendous pleasure it will be to see them jump into their great-grandmother\u2019s pool soon!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before I fly away, I should perhaps make peace with my children\u2019s genitor. Mainly to forgive him for his mistakes, his complete lack of love and ignorance of what was right. He\u2019s 91 now and still lives in his hometown. I should at least get in touch with him, say a few kind words and forgive him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before I fly away, I should take the time to properly write out my best cake recipes: sachertorte, lemon poppy, Queen Elizabeth and my famous double chocolate cake stuffed with hazelnuts! These days, hazelnuts are rare and expensive, but thankfully I can purchase fresh ones every summer at the local Saturday outdoor market in Val-David, in the Laurentians. I fill two large Mason jars and store them in the dark in my top cupboard. This summer, I want to take my two rascals of great-grandsons to a place where they can pick hazelnuts themselves and I watch them as they stuff their adorable faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before I fly away, I\u2019d like to draw some more. Back in my days as a businesswoman, I\u2019d always have with me a variety of sharpened lead pencils and a set of 48 coloured pencils. Strangely, I especially enjoyed drawing fish, owls and sometimes faces. Sitting at my kitchen table, I\u2019m staring at a beautiful owl sketched by my hand many years ago. Perhaps I should take up drawing again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before I fly away, I should declutter my closets, but blessed with good health and living well, I instead dilly-dally and have fun, I keep all my colourful clothes that I\u2019m so attached to. Each morning, I dress up in pink or yellow, add a touch of blue on my eyes and purple on my nose thanks to my new glasses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before I fly away, I\u2019d like to take my time to say goodbye to the beautiful landscapes I\u2019ve loved so much: my splendid Gasp\u00e9sie, my hometown, the steep red cliffs, the St. Lawrence\u2019s whales and the thousands of seagulls I used to talk to when I was a child. I\u2019d insist on visiting Perc\u00e9 Rock once more, walk over at low tide, touch it and caress it again, probably for the last time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before I fly away, will I cross a few oceans? I\u2019ve visited France, Italy, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. I\u2019ve lived in terrible Greece where Husband came from. I\u2019ve also walked for two long hours on the Great Wall of China and, three years later, admired the cherry tree blossoms in the oldest village in Japan. Having criss-crossed our vast country so many times to help plant more than a 100 restaurants, I\u2019d be just as delighted to inaugurate a new one!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before I fly away, I want so much to fall in love for real. To find the man of my dreams, who\u2019d build us a small island in our heads, where our soulmates would happily meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before I fly away, I\u2019ll beg the angels for my parents to recognize and greet me at Heaven\u2019s gate. I\u2019ll confess my sins, my mistakes, my wrongdoings, my remorse and, hopefully, I\u2019ll be welcomed into paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Usually, when I\u2019m writing at my kitchen table, I don\u2019t answer the telephone. But today, March 24, 2025, I don\u2019t know why, but I answer. It\u2019s my good friend from the Upper Laurentians who\u2019s calling to inform me that her beloved husband has just passed after a 10-month-long battle with a dreadful cancer. I quickly shut my iPad and sob. Death, the horrible grim reaper, peers over us night and day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cora<br>\u2764\ufe0f<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before I fly away, will I manage to remove my heart from its case of sorrow? I was a woman, then assumed the role of a man for my children, and here I am today, neither one or the other for myself. I sometimes feel as if my heart might stop beating, as if an angel were about to remove the batteries. I\u2019m holding on by a thread and I only have an inkling of what eternity might look like. I cling tightly to the idea of time as something that has no beginning or end. Before I fly away, I\u2019ll bless my three children. One daughter and two sons, all in their fifties now. They\u2019re my reason for living, my pride and joy, and my legacy here on Earth. They gave me four grandsons and two granddaughters as well as two great-grandsons. What tremendous pleasure it will be to see them jump into their great-grandmother\u2019s pool soon! Before I fly away, I should perhaps make peace with my children\u2019s genitor. Mainly to forgive him for his mistakes, his complete lack of love and ignorance of what was right. He\u2019s 91 now and still lives in his hometown. I should at least get in touch with him, say a few kind words and forgive him. Before I fly away, I should take the time to properly write out my best cake recipes: sachertorte, lemon poppy, Queen Elizabeth and my famous double chocolate cake stuffed with hazelnuts! These days, hazelnuts are rare and expensive, but thankfully I can purchase fresh ones every summer at the local Saturday outdoor market in Val-David, in the Laurentians. I fill two large Mason jars and store them in the dark in my top cupboard. This summer, I want to take my two rascals of great-grandsons\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":414,"featured_media":62227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Avant de s'envoler, Mme Cora se demande si elle r\u00e9ussira \u00e0 lib\u00e9rer son c\u0153ur du chagrin. 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