54 Things About Tyler

I have seen several blogs lately with the list theme...so I thought I'd join in...here a few things about Ty:

1. He left the spoon in the peanut butter every time he used it
2. He got sunburned easily
3. When he found an outfit/shirt/cap/shoes he liked he wore them/it all the time
4. He would chew on his lip while he was driving or thinking really hard about something
5. He could watch sports center 24/7 if he could, even if they were playing the same stories over and over again
6. He had a freckle on his ear that always looked like he had his left ear pierced
7. There were only a few songs that he liked to listen to all the way through. Usually he would listen to about 30 seconds and then, much to the dismay of his siblings in the car with him, would change the song
8. With his arms out and bent at the elbows, with his hands dropped he would shuffle across the floor doing the ‘Hitch’ dance
9. He was always teasing someone or trying to make them smile
10. He loved nature….rain, thunderstorms, snow, cold weather
11. He would wear socks for days at a time...they would begin to smell like mildew...I would have to ask him to change his socks
12. He liked to cook, but hated to clean up
13. He loved to have individual pictures taken of himself
14. He was good at pretty much every sport he played (golf, basketball, football, tennis, softball...)
15. He loved to make people laugh
16. He had a tender heart and a perpetually busy mind
17. He didn’t really learn to read until he started school in 7th grade
18. He got bored with school because he was so smart…he made all his teachers laugh a lot
19. He liked to eat healthy...most of the time
20. He sang “This is the day, this is the day, this is the day, this is the day, this is the day...” over and over again while standing on the fireplace when he was about 4 and 5 years old (he would very occasionally remember to add a “that the Lord has made” in there)
21. He had those big, brown, mischievous and caring eyes all his life
22. He was kind of a little runt of a kid compared to Landon until he was about 11 and then he grew a whole lot really fast (and out grew Landon...but don’t tell Landon) :)
23. A few of the phrases he used often: "Das weeird", "Oh, it's gonna matter", "Hurst, in't dat kinda weeird"....
24. He never kissed a girl
25. He was so good about not saying bad things about other people
26. He had a big 5 gallon bucket that he had super glued the lid onto. This is what he put all of his money in so that he wouldn’t spend it…he then borrowed money from Landon...
27. He loved Thanksgiving and Christmas…I think he liked Thanksgiving so much because that meant Christmas was almost here, and that meant he could put the Christmas lights up
28. He didn’t like Sheryl Crow at all
29. He thought he would be in the NBA by the age of 15
30. He kept his own stats (blocked shots, steals…) while playing basketball against Gini and Shelley. Since he was always about a foot taller than both of them, he would really rack up the blocked shots
31. He liked getting up early and staying up late
32. He was afraid of heights
33. He drove from Muleshoe to Littlefield when he was 12 years old
34. He liked sardines…and made his own concoction of sauces to eat with them
35. He always left just a little bit of milk in the bottom of his glass
36. He ate all food as if it were cereal...with a lot milk to wash it down
37. He would paid Ben to clean his part of their bedroom
38. He liked some rap music
39. No matter how many times he would tell the same corny joke we would laugh every time
40. Him and Landon told Cori to get the cows of the roof and that Ted Nugent wanted his shirt back all the time
41. One summer him and Landon painted our whole house for little pay
42. ...and painted Grandaddy’s for less
43. He sported a “tinker bell” haircut for a while
44. He cut his own hair (except when Gini would occasionally help shave the back of his neck)
45. When we first moved to Muleshoe he got the reputation for telling girls flat out “no”, without further explanation or apology, when they would call wanting to go out with him
46. He played more outside and inside football than anyone I know
47. Loved to play sports with his younger siblings and the neighbor kids
48. He would be the “all time quarter-back” and would always let/help Cori beat Ben when they played football (inside or outside)
49. He loved to go golfing with his brothers and Papa
50. He was the tallest person in junior high, including coaches and teachers

I found a list that Shelley, Cori, Gini, Ben and I had started with things about Tyler and somehow they didn't make it into the original list that I posted. So here they are.

51. He liked for people to play with his ears.
52. He would have Gini, Shelley, and Cori count the moles of his head (I think this was his way of getting them to rub his head).
53. He once told us girls that J.J. Reddick's grandparents were the people that owned "J.J.'s Cafe" is Hereford, Texas...we believed him....
54. He and Landon would always give Cori a box full of rocks and toilet tissue for Christmas. They would go to the trouble to acutally wrap it and put it under the tree for her to open.

A beautiful picture of hope.

BTD (Border Town Days)

This weekend was Border Town Days in Papa's home town, Farwell. It is tradition for the whole family to go every year. Usually on Friday night there is a barn dance. Then on Saturday morning there is a parade. Grandaddy always helps out with the cookout/barbecue in the park in the afternoon. All throughout the park there are booth's set up selling homemade arts and crafts, ice cream and pies. There is also a talent show with an open microphone giving many people the opportunity to sing (this can be good and bad...). Later in the day there is a volleyball tournament (they didn't have it this year for some reason). Then on Sunday we play in the annual Sheets vs. Mayfield softball game and eat hotdogs and drink cokes (didn't get to do this this year either).

Last year at the barn dance I remember so clearly how Zach and Tyler danced to the song from the movie Hitch. I wish so badly that we had gotten it on video...because it was hilarious! It always made me laugh so hard when he would dance to it. Tyler possessed such a wide array of behaviors. He was quiet and serious at times. Then the next minute he would be joking, laughing and passionate. But no matter what he did you could see deep in his eyes the love that he had for making people laugh/smile/happy. Even though sometimes he was kind of shy he was also confident so anytime that song came on we would beg him to do the dance and he would always oblige.

I am always thinking about Ty. I always want to be talking about him. And I want to learn to write about him and tell stories about him because I want those who never knew him to get a tiny glimpse of him. Of his heart, his willingness to learn, his passion for people, his joy for life, his desire to serve, and his humility before God. As I have said before...putting him into words is simply impossible...but I am still going to try on occasion because he is so worth knowing and talking about.