Love Of My Life

Spread Your Wings - Spring and Summer 2019

Photo of Benjamin and Tyler training.

Recommended song Spread Your Wings by Queen

Tyler's POV

Spring and Summer 2019

The past few months were filled with hard, intense training. The spring routine was 4 hours a day. Running for one hour and the gym for three hours.

The summer routine increased to six hours a day, three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening. The morning routine that Tyler implemented was two fold- getting used to the walking poles/ breaking in the new hiking boots and increasing stamina with long hikes.

They walked at a brisk pace on the same route everyday and noticed they had shaved some time every day. They only stopped for a ten minute break in the middle.

Both Tyler and Benjamin were athletic and loved the regime. In the afternoon they usually took the boys to the pool or climbing wall, something fun for them to do to burn off energy.

Benjamin set up the evening program. They changed their diet to more of what they would eat on the trail so it wouldn't be a difficult adjustment. Nights were spent with 3 hours training at the gym. They would return to Tyler's home or Benjamin's home and either play a board game with the family or crib with Doris, depending whose house they were at.

Even spending all of their time together worked equally well for both of them. Both of their personalities had caregiving tendencies so it was a treat to be on the receiving end of being looked after. They were both quiet homebodies that enjoyed sitting around the fire pit playing the guitar, or playing board games with the families.

Benjamin's friends had welcomed Tyler easily. They had never seen Benjamin so happy or confident and Tyler was an impressive young man.

When they spent time with Mike and Benjamin it was Mike that did a lot of the taking and they didn't get to know the real Benjamin. With Tyler, it was different. Both Benjamin and Tyler led and followed in a graceful dance between them, it was wonderful for his friends to watch the couple interact. There was none of the foolish teasing that often goes to far and leads to hurt feelings, their conversations were complimentary to each other and full of adoration.

Jeremy watched them from the deck with his wife for a while, beaming at them like a proud parent. Benjamin had come a long way in the past few months and it was because of Tyler. He was happy watching his beloved friend being cherished.

Tyler was nervous when he told his friends of his relationship with Benjamin, their former teacher. Their acceptance was overwhelming. He expected a bit of teasing but received none. They had all noticed the difference in their friend and knew that Benjamin had played a big role in it.

They were enthusiastic about their upcoming hike and since Scottie had made the trek with his family the summer before and talked enthusiastically about the hike. Once again Tyler was blown away by his friends support.

Benjamin and he had never talked about the night at the club, when he saw his mother. He hated using that word for her, he didn't know what else to call the evil woman that gave birth to him, abused him, and ultimately shattered his family in one devastating evening.

His father too had played a huge part in the awfulness that was his childhood. The beatings, taunts, terror that he had endured was mainly from him but she never stopped it and often participated.

Tyler never spoke of it. He never spoke of them. He never said a word about that night.

When he first came to live with Debbie and Peter, they had tried counselling but he wouldn't say a word. He barely spoke for the first two years he lived with them.

Nightmares terrorized him. There were so many things that would trigger an anxiety attack that Debbie was often called to pick him up from school.

When they would go camping they didn't light a fire, the smell would uproot the painful memories and he would end up in a fetal position sobbing uncontrollably.

Things slowly began to improve for Tyler  when Shane came to live with him. He came out of his shell, he loved making the solemn little boy laugh.  The two were inseperable. They were protective of each other and Eventually helped each other overcome their pain.

For Shane, he idolized the older boy that was gentle and caring, always had time to play or talk. They would build Legos for hours on end and proudly showed off their masterpieces to Debbie and Peter who showered them with compliments. Slowly they began to change, to trust, to actually be happy. It was an amazing transition for Debbie and Peter to watch.

From the moment they met they were brothers Debbie and Peter often said. Tyler would smile and agree.

For Tyler, Shane reminded him of his younger brother. The boy he couldn't save. The boy who haunted him with guilt and drove him to always do better, to be kind, to share, to do everything that would make Cole proud of him. Not a day went by that he didn't silently grieve, didn't ask why him? Why not me? What if?

Nobody saw his grief. He hid it well with his smile, his helpfulness, his cheerfulness. But it was there. Always there. July 1st was always his reminder. It was Cole's birthday
Every Canada day he would think, Cole would be 5 years today, starting kindergarten in the fall. He would be 8 years today, probably lost his front teeth. He would be 12 years today, what we're his favorite subjects.

That was how his mind was occupied on Canada Day, July 1st. Until Mike died. Then he heard a little voice say "Go help him. He needs you" and he saw the man that would change his world.