October 11, 2016, approximately 1 o'clock in the morning. I sat in my bed watching the Cubs game, (yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll write an article explaining that, don't worry) and it was time for commercials. I scrolled through my news feed on Twitter to see if I had missed any more ridiculous twitter-fights Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were in for that week, when I came across some incredibly devastating news. While reading various Oswego High School Graduates' tweets regarding "another Oswego soul taken too soon", I kept searching through my later news feed to see who this was about. Once I read that all of these tweets were about Tyler Behnke, my heart instantly dropped. While I was not as close to Tyler as most of his other friends, and definitely nothing close to the relationship he had with his fraternity brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha at Eastern Illinois University, I still felt as though I had lost a part of myself. Let me tell you just a little bit about Tyler, because if you didn't know this guy, you were definitely missing out in life.
Tyler Behnke was definitely one of those guys who never let you pass by him in a bad mood. He always had a smile on his face, and never lost sight of his planned future. We would be in the gym every now and then, and we would constantly compete to see who can lift the most without taking a break. Once my last day of high school was quickly approaching, Tyler was one of the first people in the school to wish me luck on my future, even though we hadn't talked as much that year. Reading this news report by The Daily Eastern News, published only yesterday, him being gone still feels so surreal. His fraternity brothers described him the exact way I remembered him when we walked the halls of OHS together. The only regret I have with this entire situation is wishing I had reached out to him so much more, instead of just thinking I should do so. In this year alone, Oswego has lost two of the most genuine and greatest human beings to come into our lives. Just when I thought all of the deep mourning for Justin was done, now begins another cycle of grief for Tyler. I wish there was some type of justification for losing you, but I know there might never be, and we have to learn to accept that. I do like to think I know one thing though, and that is you wouldn't want us to be upset you're gone. I'd like to think you would want us to continue to be happy, and living life to the fullest, exactly as you did. I don't even think you would want a formal funeral. Maybe a tailgate for the day, pregame as the wake, and a "lit" party to end the night. Whatever your ceremony is, I know your fraternity brothers will absolutely do it justice. Here's to seeing you soon, and I'll have to see if it's always lit up in Heaven. If it wasn't before, I have no doubt it always is now that you're up there.
