Tylor was born on April 18, 1981. He is the son of a young couple whose marriage has been on and off the rocks for some years.
His mother is dissatisfied with her lot in life as a mother and housewife and has for some time felt as if she missed something in life by marrying at 19 years of age. She also feels her husband has no feelings for her, and wants out of the marriage.
His father is at a loss to know what to do about the situation between himself and his wife. He feels he is misunderstood, but has not been able to express himself adequately. He knows there are problems with the marriage, but is unable to find any solutions. Finally, in February of 1983 he agrees to leave the family home after a particularly violent fight with his wife.
His reasons for leaving are simple enough. She had come at him with the fire poker, from behind. He had almost used his huge physical strength against her in defense and anger. That in itself was enough reason to leave. Top that with the presence of both children who witnessed the event, and their hysterical reactions to the situation, and he had no choice. He had to go.
It wasn't fair to him. It wasn't fair to her. But most of all, it wasn't fair to the children.
Tylor is the younger child in the home. His older brother, Eric, is nine when the final breakup occurs, while Tylor is not quite two years old. Neither of them is old enough to understand what is happening. However, Eric is old enough to understand the violence he has witnessed and his terror is plain to Tylor who reacts to what he can sense his brother is feeling. Both Tylor and Eric are profoundly and deeply affected by the event, but it will be much later that the extent makes itself known.
It also bears mentioning that just four days after Tylor's birth, his father suffered a broken femur. It was six weeks before he came home, and then as an invalid. To complicate things further for the young family, he was to return to the hospital barely two weeks later for another 4 weeks due to the formation of many blood clots in his broken leg. During all this time the young mother was alone at home with a third grader and a newborn. Not an ideal situation for Tylor or his mother.
When dad finally did make it home to stay, Tylor's mother was at her wits end with cabin fever and the stress of coping with the kids alone. To escape the tension her husband agreed to watch the kids as best he could while she went out for some "Adult" company and conversation.
This arrangement was continued until the day he left their home, giving Tylor and his father many hours to become quite attached to each other, bonded if you will, to father instead of mother.
The effect of dad leaving on Tylor was traumatic. His whole world had been built around his father who was suddenly no longer present. His mother, alone with the children again, was presented with the problem of tending a child who wanted nothing to do with her, and cried constantly for his dad. The situation was explosive at the least, and the stress level at the family home was now higher than ever.
I don't believe she ever took her frustration out on Tylor directly, but I'm certain she couldn't hide it from him. Neither could she hide her feelings that she was tied to the house because of him with any success.
Eric was also aware of her feelings and at first tried to take part of the load off her. That's a lot to ask a nine year old to do, and in time he became quite bitter with the situation. If she could have found a way to accept the situation gracefully, I'm sure Eric would not have become so uncooperative with her, refusing to do anything she asked. As time passed his performance in school fell to failing.