Ty

It is hard for me to even process what Renata told me about Ty the other day.  He is a broken man right now, and it is very, very sad.

The cute couple!

Renata and Ty met through some mutual friends about a year ago and she says it was love at first sight.  They are both very athletic and very religious and she could see how driven he was and how much he loved his work.  She said he always spoke about Merlin and what a bright, funny kid he is.  He is so much like me!

It was a whirlwind romance and she now believes they got engaged probably too soon after they met, but they were crazy about each other.  When he was scheduled to take Merlin to an event in the state capitol last year he asked her to stay in his home and watch his dog while he was away.  She was excited to do it because he had been carefully fixing up the little bungalow he had bought in town and it was just beautiful.  She invited a few girlfriends over for dinner one night while she was there so she could show off the home she would be moving into after they got married.

Within hours of her arriving his dog disappeared.  She looked and looked, but Dementor was gone.  She finally had to call Ty and tell him, and he was sweet and forgiving, but she could tell he was upset.  While she was out looking for the dog someone broke into the house (she might have left the doors unlocked) and jammed the toilets with paper towels, then flushed them repeatedly.  Such a random, cruel act!

She was despondent about the dog, but she had invited her friends over so she made a nice dinner for them and tried to unplug the toilets.  She has no idea who posted PARTY!!! flyers all over the campus at the university, but drunk kids started arriving early and they brought kegs.  She tried to get them to leave.  Because the toilets were jammed they defecated everywhere.  At the end of the night the police had been there four times, she had a three citations and the house was destroyed.

Ty’s beautiful yard!

After that,Ty was a changed man.  She tried to make it work, but he was broken and angry. He had occasionally smoked a little with friends, but he began smoking weed every day.  She said he would lie around on the couch playing video games and getting stoned.  He couldn’t make himself fix the house up again and even lost interest in teaching.

She tried to hang in there, but finally broke up with him.  She called his parents because she was so worried about him.

He eventually moved back in with his family.  They have been trying to help him, and when he left his job last fall it was to enter inpatient therapy.  He just can’t seem to get it together.

Happier times, with his lil’ buddy.

The shooting was just one in a series of bad decisions he has made.  I didn’t believe it was him, but I guess it really “wasn’t” the Ty I knew.

Since the shooting he has been doing some court ordered therapy and trying to make better decisions.  Renata spoke to him last week and he has enrolled in a training program to work at wilderness camps for troubled teens.  He will be wonderful at that!  His brother has moved in his house and is starting to fix it up for him.  Hopefully Ty will be back to his wonderful self soon.  I miss him, and I know he must miss me too.

Besties 4 life!

Poor Ty

I have reached out to Ty several times since the police unjustly railroaded him into confessing to my shooting.  His lawyer must had advised him not to contact me until after the trial, because he is not taking my calls or texts, or letters.  I did notice his old soccer team was playing a game today when I looked at their schedule by accident online.  I happened to be in the area and saw Ty with my telephoto lens I was using to shoot photos of a rare bird species I had read was spotted nearby.  He seems to have lost some of the weight and looked much happier than he has been in a while.  It must be such a relief to him to know that Renata has moved on to another man.  Maybe he will be back to teaching Merlin soon!

He mustn’t know about the Edible Arrangement I sent to his parents home last week or he would for sure have stopped by to thank me.

Detective Work

I went by Ty’s house a few times yesterday and he was nowhere to be found.  The house was dark and the curtains were all drawn.  I waited until it was dark to climb over his fence, so I wouldn’t alarm his neighbors, but there is some kind of automatic light that flipped on.

I then drove by his parents house a few times.  I finally parked out front and there was no sign of Ty, but there is a huge Christmas tree blocking my view into the living room.  I did see his brother walking Dementor.

So I went home and picked up a tray of my famous home-made cookies to bring to his family.  I figured they would invite me in and tell me what is going on.

Everyone always remarks on how clever I am to make such beautiful cookies. I actually buy them from a woman who lives a couple of hours away, so no one knows.  If I had time to make cookies they would look like these, only nicer.

I changed into a cocktail dress, just in case they were all gathered for a sip of wine and drove on over.  Well, Ty’s mother must have started with the wine a little early because she was so rude to me!  She literally slammed the door right in my face.  His Dad came out after I knocked a few more times and asked me if I didn’t have a family of my own to “bother”.  Excuse me?  They have always seemed like such nice people in the past.  I tried to step inside with the cookie tray, just to drop it off, but he closed the door IN MY FACE!

RUDE!

I guess they won’t be getting a Christmas card this year.

Old Friends are the Best Friends

I had to stop in at school this morning to make sure everyone was getting along without my constant supervision and I saw Merlin’s class outdoors conducting some sort of experiment.  It occured to me that I hadn’t seen Ty in quite a while, so I dashed over to say hello.

I have to say that I was absolutely shocked by the change in him.  Merlin has been telling me that Mr. Williams seems sad, but it also looked like he had gained a bit of weight.  He is not a fatty or anything yet, but he doesn’t look like he has been running and biking and rowing like he used to.  He also seemed subdued. Instead of the cheerful guy I used to hang around with last year, he was almost mechanical with the children.  He barely acknowledged me when I said hello.

He’s still hunky, just a lil’ chunky.

I have to admit that these changes may be my fault.  We used to spend so much time together and I’ll bet he is missing his old friend, Lah Lee.  I know it is too early for New Year’s resolutons, but I am making, I guess, a holiday vow to spend  lot more time with Ty.  I know i can turn that frown upside down in no time!

Missing Dog! Again!

I had an extremely unpleasant wake-up call this morning.  At the crack of dawn, 9:45 or so, my doorbell rang and it was Karen Sullivan!  Röbert was out running with Beefy, so I had to answer the door and talk to her.  How inconvenient for me.

Anyway, sometime yesterday, while she and Renata were lounging around her backyard together, Ty’s dog, Dementor, escaped from his house.  Renata was supposed to do one thing, and that was to take care of his beloved dog while Ty was away, and she completely, completely failed at that.

I don’t know why Karen thought I would have seen Dementor. I guess probably because I was so good at finding Beefeater when she kept losing him last year, but she seemed a lil’ accusatory, and I certainly took offense!

Jesus on toast! I’d feel bad for her if she hadn’t proven herself to be a complete and total snake, many times!

Anywho, she said that Renata had been up all night looking for Dementor, and she was going to look for a couple of more hours before letting Ty know, because we all know how much he loves that lil’ guy.

After she left I had a thought.  Renata was at Karen’s yesterday when we got home from dropping off Merlin.  Maybe Ty actually took the dog to camp with him.  Of course I texted him to check it out.  “Hey Ty.  I was wondering whether you took Dementor with you?  He hasn’t been seen since you left and I have been beside myself about it.  Renata seemed to have a nice day sunbathing yesterday.  Hugs.”

I didn’t hear back from him right away.  He probably wanted to check in with Renata about her tan or something.  I was going through some pictures I took of Hummus yesterday to pick one out for an online “Beautiful Baby” contest and guess what I spotted in the background of one?

Can you see him? That dog is running for his life!

Poor Dementor looks terrified!  If I had noticed him running by, I am not sure i would have felt comfortable putting him back in the care of Renata.  She clearly was abusing him like she used to abuse babies.

I am getting more and more worried about Ty!