For Tyler

Portrait I made for Tyler our senior year in 2008, oil paint on canvas.

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,

may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

If this has taught me anything it would be to tell people how you feel while you still have the chance. I'd give anything to walk around the corner to meet you one more time, like we have done a hundred times before. 

edit:

Life is weird sometimes. I got in my car the other night and said "Your friends really miss you Ty." My ipod was on shuffle and the next song that played was Bob Marley's  "Three Little Birds." I could barely drive cause I started crying. He reassured me that "Every little thing is gonna be alright," but that's just the way he was, putting his friends feelings before his.

I texted him Thursday night and asked him how he was, and he never responded. But I have two locked texts from him that say "I found the note. You're the best. Love you Susie." ( I slipped a note in his Triangle Tech acceptance letter telling him to have a great day and that I loved him. The second text I saved said "Have fun in Boston. Just know my heart never changed." This was from when I went to his apartment and talked with him for about an hour about how I was worried about him, in October. I don't want to change phones because I look at those texts every single day now, in hopes to get one more from him.

I heard on a random television show someone said " You know you have made it in life when you have a custom art piece done." Well it helps me think that Tyler has truly "made it in life" not just because he truly did have a custom art piece done for him but for how he lived his life, how he had an impact on so many people. He is impacting us and will impact us for the rest of our lives.

 I hung this painting up in my dorm room freshman year of college because it was my favorite painting I ever did and it was too hard for me to get rid of. I eventually gave it to him this past summer one random day I went over his house to watch a movie with him. I brought it to him in a garbage bag and said "There was this garbage bag on your lawn, I thought you'd want to know." he smiled and just said "Oh yeah?" with that million dollar grin, he knew what it was. I thought this painting was hard to get rid of even then, now it's truly priceless.

No amount of words could describe this pain. but Every Little thing's gonna be alright, hearing and saying this helps me sleep at night. So do those pearly whites and baby blues.

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