Congratulations, Beau!!!

I am dedicating this post to my handsome nephew, Tyler Shea Yendrek, also lovingly known as "Beau". For fourteen very long years, he has endured school. And I say endure, because nothing in this handsome man's life ever came easy to him.

When everyone else would excel in a subject, he would struggle. He overcame every odd ever stacked against him {and trust me, there were many}, and he did it anyway. Or maybe in spite of. Either way, he is officially walking down the isle on Friday night, June 26th at 7:00.

I am so proud of this man. As his aunt, I can't believe he's even old enough to graduate. I remember the day Tyler {his mama almost named him Griffin Marshall, but I'm so glad Beau became "Beau"!} came into our lives. He literally burst into our family on MY birthday, December 14th. He changed us all forever. And after a while, I was more than happy to share my special day with him. Because I was young, people. Who wants to share their special day when they're 13? Or however old I was?

Tyler was the kid who made all the other kids laugh. He was the jokester, the class clown, the one that the teachers probably cringed to have. Until they got to know him. He also had the amazing ability to win over their hearts the second they truly got to know him. And most of them {all of them?} ended up loving him.

When he was five years old~maybe younger or older, I am unsure on the time frame~he looked exactly like McCauley Culkin. Remember the Home Alone kid? Tyler would put his hands on his little cheeks and scream just like the kid in the movie.

Tyler was "the one" who always had to do something really dumb when I babysat him, Jaret and Erika. My favorite story was the time when Erika came to the top of the stairs and yelled, "Aunt Jennifer!!! I smell gas!!!" I took off running up the stairs and discovered that something DID smell really bad. But it wasn't gas. It was Tyler in the bathroom with the door locked. I started banging on the door and screaming, "Tyler Shea Yendrek, open up this door NOW!!!!!" He finally did open the door and started bawling, all the while begging me not to tell his mommy and daddy.

What was he doing, you wonder? He was burning TOOTHBRUSHES in the bathroom sink, for goodness' sake. That kid. He was always pulling pranks like that. He was also the one who put a dead goose in his mother's brand new jacuzzi bathtub not too long after they'd moved into a new house. And yes, the goose was bloody.

Of course, while I write all this, I am flooded with hundreds of other memories, but I don't have room to write them all out. I am so proud of him. Tyler, if you read this, and I hope you do, I am so proud of you. We will all be there to cheer you on as you walk down the isle. And we don't care WHERE it is, or WHO it's with~you are you and THAT is who we know and care about and love. And we do. We love you so much and are so happy for you!!!