November 19, 2005. My 21-year-old nephew Tyler, was on the other side of the world, a Marine serving in Iraq. He wrote a letter to the McAnulty Family and addressed and sealed it before he went on duty. He didn’t know that he would never come back and put it in the mail.
Here in Tangent, it started out as a perfectly ordinary and wonderful Saturday. I went to my parents in Brownsville and had a good time quilting with some family members, then took Nick out shopping for a new sweatshirt that afternoon. Nick had just found one that he really liked when I got the call from my brother (Tyler’s dad) that changed everything. The sweatshirt was left behind, and I couldn’t go back into the Ross store at the mall for a very long time.
Tyler had lived next door to us since middle school. On Christmas Eve, Tyler’s sister and mom walked over and brought me an incredible gift, the letter he had written to our family on that last day. They discovered it among his belongings that were shipped to them. I shared it in this blog posting: http://wlenmusings.blogspot.com/2005/12/letter-from-tyler.html
Here is another blog I wrote that tells more about the awesome person that he was. http://wlenmusings.blogspot.com/2005/11/tyler-troyer-american-hero-beloved.html
Tyler will never be forgotten by those who love him, and today we will all be remembering the fun and laughter and love he brought to our lives, as well as again grieving the loss of this beloved nephew/cousin/ brother/son/ friend. My love and prayers are with his family today.
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