“We can’t say the word happy but we’ll say thank you for being a mother & giving me this sweet amazing boy. #mothersday,” the actor, 37, captioned a throwback Instagram photo of Rivera and the pair’s son, Josey, now 5, on Sunday, May 9.

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The Glee alum’s costars showed support in the comments section. Jenna Ushkowitz replied with six heart emojis, while Heather Morris wrote, “This broke me I love you.”

Rivera and Dorsey were married from 2014 to 2018. They welcomed Josey in September 2015.

The Devious Maids alum went missing in July 2020 while out on a boat with her son in California. Authorities confirmed that she drowned in Lake Piru. Her body was recovered after a five-day search.

Dorsey reflected on the loss shortly after Rivera’s death at age 33. “I’m thankful for our times and our journey that brought us together and gave us the sweetest and kindest smart little boy we could ever hope for,” he wrote via Instagram. “I remember sometimes you used to get annoyed at me: ‘Ryan can you stop snap chatting!’ Haha. I’m glad I didn’t listen to you because I have hundreds and probably thousands of snaps and videos that Josey will have forever and know his momma loved him more than life, and how much fun we had together as he was growing up. Life is all about good times and bad times but with Josey it makes the bad a little less so because a part of you will always be with us. He’ll never forget where he came from. We miss you. We will always love you.”

The Big Sky star opened up about becoming a single parent in September 2020. “I probably lost a little over 20 pounds. I don’t get good sleep. I’m sad every day,” he said in an Instagram video. “I wake up, I go to sleep sad every night, staring at the ceiling. I’m staring at the wall and I think to myself, how lucky I am to, to still have my mom and to have her help out in my life still. And then I think about how he won’t have that same opportunity in his future.”

Dorsey also detailed Josey’s reaction to losing his mother. “I have to tell him, ‘Oh, she’s an angel now. And she’s with God and she’s in heaven.’ And he says, ‘Well, I want to go there. How do I get there?’” he explained. “I wouldn’t wish that upon any of your ears to have to hear that, hear those words come out of the sweetest soul you know.”

The Ray Donovan alum honored Rivera in January on what would have been her 34th birthday. “Just as surreal as it is real that you’re gone. If that makes sense, but none of this still makes any sense,” he wrote. “34..I could just hear you saying ‘Ah, I’m old AF now!’ Ha…Rest easy old lady.”

This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Erin Crabtree