Tyler

As the name of this blog conveys, there is some Irish Catholic in my blood. It's actually that side of the family that I've spent the most time with, and while we don't see each other every day, we are all still pretty tight. I grew up spending every Sunday until I was 16 at my Grammy Mc's house, playing with my cousins, and, in some cases, my cousin's kids.

Tina, the youngest child of my oldest auntie, used to get thrown in the pool every year at her mother's house, which was in the same town as my Grammy Mc's house. I was, interestingly, thinking of her on Saturday and hoping nobody would throw me in the pool. (I ended up going swimming anyway, only to have cousin Steve say, every time he swam by me, "I just went to the bathroom.")

Tina has two kids of her own. I've written about Tyler, her oldest.

And now I am writing about him again, because he was killed, yesterday morning, in a car accident in Maine. There were a couple of teeny articles about it online. OK, there were five teeny news articles online, which I kept reading, over and over, because you never think something is going to happen to you or someone you know until it does, and then you are astonished.

I feel so sad for his immediate family. I know how close they were. I remember talking with his little sister at his high school graduation party. She was saying how much she was going to miss him, and he was just going away to an in-state school. His mom is one of my favorite cousins. She has lots of sass. I remember when she was dating Tyler's dad. I remember their wedding, which they invited all us kids to. It was around the time that a lot of my older cousins were getting married. It was a joy to be there. It's pretty much always a joy to be around my extended Irish brood.

And now we'll be gathering for something that's pretty much the opposite of joy. I would just like to ask everyone to pray for Tina, Jim, and Libbi, Tyler's mom, dad, and sister. I will be praying for them, too. And give all the sweet, smart-mouthed boys around you extra-long hugs.