Peyton Ricker and Ty

Peyton Ricker and Tyler Hart friends forever.

One of Tyler's very best buds passed away just before Christmas due to a brain tumor. He was a sweet little boy that Tyler just adored. They played soccer together and were in the same preschool class as well as church classes and always were giggling together. This has been quite an emotional time for little Ty, but he has had some really special moments through it all.

The night we told him we sat him down and talked about how special it would be to be with Jesus for Christmas. As the words were coming out of Andy's mouth Tyler's face dropped and the tears began to flow, hard. He kept looking up at me with question and "just hold me mom" in his eyes. His nighttime prayer is one I will never forget. He said, "Dear Heavenly Father..." and then proceeded to share his utmost concern, which was "Please, please, please, let Peyton know how much I love him! Please, let him know I love him...." Over and over again. It was a special moment. I laid with him for a while that night as he slept with a picture of Peyton on one side and Jesus on the other.

Also he was invited to write a letter to Peyton that would be put in a bag next to him in his casket. That was quite the privilage and quite the task for Ty to get on paper. He did it and again, it was including his largest concern...to make sure he knew of his love for him.

The funeral was tough. He really wanted to SEE Peyton, so he could say goodbye, but couldn't make it all the way into the viewing room. He wanted to check out mentally, I could tell by the way he was asking to do certain things. He kept asking to play a game on my cell phone during the services...and I let him. During the removing of the casket I made him stop and pay attention. They came right by us and the closer they got the harder Tyler bawled, intermittently looking up at me with tears streaming down his face and his eyes penetrating me with a “why? Mom, WHY?” Then as we followed the crowd out to the hearse and watched as they drove Peyton away Tyler just lost it. The Bishop has taken special interest in Tyler due to his friendship with Peyton and saw him struggling. In the midst of this large crowd he walked over to Tyler and tried consoling him, got down on his knees and said, “Tyler the spirit is prompting me, as your Bishop, to you give you a promise. As you choose the right and strive to live your life in a righteous manner I promise you Peyton will be with you at any significant event in your life, especially in the temple.” The spirit was strong and Tyler felt it as did I and the Bishop. I felt the truthfulness of those words and explained later to Tyler how special that was and what kinds of events the Bishop was probably referring to. I will never forget that moment and hope that he won't either.