It’s been nearly seven years since Tyler’s passing and eight years from this event I’m going to recall, but I seem to think about it whenever I see an owl or walk by a certain baseball complex near my home in Jupiter, Florida. I was then working a tournament for Prospect Wire and when I came in early before a game, I saw a young man in a baseball uniform focused on something outside the net of a batting cage. I came closer and saw this beautiful owl whose little feet were tied up in knots by the netting. It was obviously scared out of its mind and had no way of escaping. It was a big one with these giant yellow eyes and I was thinking how I’d never seen an owl in broad daylight before. Tyler, a high school kid, was grabbing every tool he could get his hands on, from our keys to his baseball equipment, working frantically to free this poor owl. The rest of us kind of watched and supported but we really had no idea what to do. It must have taken him a half hour but he untied the owl being most careful at the end so that nobody would get clawed when it made its desperate escape. I remember his father almost in tears telling me how proud he was that his teenage son had such a good heart and I was thinking the same thing! That day was my only contact with Ty, his father Ken, and his younger brother Tucker who was also playing in the tournament. But Ty’s selfless spirit and compassion is what I remember so fiercely. I am forever grateful I crossed paths with him to witness his saving of that owl’s life. He impacted me without hardly ever knowing me! Sincerely, Anup Sinha Jupiter, FL Nupester@aol.com