It was a very sad day at our house. Mrs. Miller passed away yesterday. She was our across the street neighbor on Sandra Terrace. The Millers were like grandparents to Tyler. He began mowing their lawn when he was 9 years old. The teenager down the street had lost interest and so Tyler because of his size and experience (at our house) became their lawn boy. His starting wage was $6 a mow. In the beginning I would have to go also because he wasn't strong enough to lift the bags full of grass into the garbage can. He still pushes the mower over to their house on Saturdays and has had a few pay raises, and increase in job duties over the years.
Tyler's relationship with the Millers quickly turned from hired hand to honorary member of the family. They always fed him an amazing lunch and remembered his birthday. He tried to remember their birthdays and always visited Mrs. Miller on Mother's day. Mr. Miller had beagles all his life and told great stories about hunting with them. So of course Tyler had to have a beagle. They had a mutual love for basketball and the Phoenix Suns. Tyler would often watch the game at their house. We were all so happy the Suns beat the Lakers Monday night. It made Mrs. Miller so happy. We felt like it was just for her.
I will always be so grateful to the Miller's for loving my boy, teaching him how to work like only an employer can and treating him like one of their own. The Miller's children live out of town and mostly out of state we had only met one daughter when Mr. Miller had his knee surgery. Mr. Miller introduced Tyler to everyone as "his boy." The family kept laughing and saying "This is little Tyler!" because that is what the Miller's called him apparently. Ty is 6'3" and towers over everyone in that family. Every kid should have a Mrs. Miller in their life. I will miss her so much.
