Happy Birthday Tyler!

My brother-in-law, Tyler, turned 28 over the weekend. We celebrated by helping my sister pull off a surprise kickball party! On Wednesday Emily came over to our apartment to secretly bake a homemade strawberry cake. We hid it away in our freezer and on Saturday morning Emily took Tyler out to breakfast while Braden and I snuck the cake to their apartment and set up decorations. Then we met friends from Emily and Tyler’s community group at a nearby park. When Tyler passed the park on his way home from breakfast we were all there waiting to play kickball with him! If you know Tyler, you understand this is just the type of surprise he dreams of J. The weather was beautiful and it was such a fun morning. After the game we had a picnic and headed over to Emily and Tyler’s apartment for cake.

For those who don’t know, Tyler and I go way back. Here is the history of how Tyler came to be a part of our family: The summer before I started 5^th grade our family moved from Arkansas to Kentucky. We started school about 2 weeks after the move and the first day of school happened to be Emily’s 13^th birthday. Tyler was in her homeroom class he decided he should make friends with the quiet new girl J Fast forward 2 years and I’m starting 7^th grade. In English class I sit at a table with 3 other kids- 2 boys and Kristin, Tyler’s little sister. The boys taunted us all year long and Kristin and I bond through our mutual disgust of the boys. We remain friends throughout middle school. When we reach 8^th grade, our siblings are juniors in high school. Emily has a boyfriend who Tyler convinces to break up with her. Tyler then asks Emily to prom. They become inseparable. Kristin and I proceed to spend the next 4 years of high school planning our siblings wedding when we should have been paying attention in math class. Emily and Tyler are now in college and live 8 hours apart, but they continue to date long-distance and see each other at home during breaks. FINALLY, 8 years after meeting on Emily’s birthday, Tyler proposes the summer after Kristin and I graduate from high school. Everyone’s dreams came true.

Emily and Tyler lived in Kentucky the first 3 years of their marriage and eventually moved to New York so he could attend Columbia. It was a lifelong dream of mine to live in New York and Tyler was a huge part in making that happen. He called me the day a social work position opened at the school where he teaches and the rest is history!