The late Naya Rivera‘s ex-husband Ryan Dorsey is sharing just how painful Mother’s Day is for him and their 6-year-old son, Josey, nearly two years after her tragic passing. In a post he shared on Instagram, Dorsey penned the emotional and raw tribute.
Ryan Dorsey Pens Heart Wrenching Mother’s Day Tribute About Naya Rivera
As Ryan began his tribute, he wrote, “I woke up thinking about so much. Josey with his grandma [and] me by myself. I don’t text Happy Mothers Day [because] that seems like an insane thing to do considering. My mind full of so many thoughts. So many things. So many things to do this Sunday but first thing on the list was to get on with it and head to my least favorite place in the world.”
Ryan continued, writing about how he wished he could have slept a little longer that day, in an attempt to “postpone real life a bit longer. But I just lay there staring up through the air in front of my eyes.” As Mamas Uncut previously reported, Naya Rivera—who was best known for her role in Glee—passed away in July 2020.
Rivera and the son she shares with Dorsey had rented a pontoon boat and were enjoying a day out on Lake Piru when tragedy struck. While it’s unclear exactly what led to Rivera’s drowning, it’s believed the mother and son were jumping off the boat and swimming in the water when the pontoon drifted too far away from them. While Rivera was able to get her then-four-year-old son to safety, she wasn’t able to get herself back onto the boat before she drown.
First responders found Josey wrapped in a towel sleeping on the boat. Rivera’s body was discovered after a days-long search.
As Ryan continued, he wrote that “flashes of memories of me as a little boy at his age [with] my mom turned into some gratitude for the years I’ve had and still have, turns into the times my son and I had with his and how they were stopped… I know how this day is going to go. Plenty of time for water works, but not now. I fight it and up I get.”
RELATED: Ryan Dorsey Honors Ex Naya Rivera On Anniversary of Her Funeral: ‘Our Boy Has Grown So Much’
“On the way, there [are] places I pass that bring back times. This is where we took him when he was little that one time…d*mn, we had dinner there. That’s the street I used to live on when we first met…she used to live there on Magnolia. Flowers sold out where I used to always get them. I’ll just get some on the way… I miss my exit as I feel like I didn’t blink for 10 minutes as my mind was wandering with so many flashes. The harder I think about things, it’s harder to believe. Un-f******-believable, still that this is reality. That this is our real life and I have to blink hard & shake my head as if to snap out of it & grasp the facts of it all once and for all.”
He also talked about how “turning onto Forest Lawn Drive will [always] bring the memory of two summers ago” when Naya passed away But the memories prior to that I have to be grateful for [and] our son.”
RELATED: Naya Rivera’s Ex Ryan Dorsey Says Their Son Josey Has Been So ‘Strong and Brave’
And while Ryan admits he lets himself time to grief especially on days like Mother’s Day when the memories both good and bad come rushing back in full force, he admits that all he can do is move on with his day. “That’s all we can do is go on, go on while we can. Hug your mommas and grandmas, and love ‘em while you can,” Ryan concluded.
“Forgive [and] forget, if you can. You don’t wanna maybe wish what if you did one day.”
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