Owen went to two different Montessori Schools from ages 3-10. In the Montessori classroom you celebrate your birthday by making a photo college poster and doing a sweet walk around the sun ceremony. A candle is lit and the child holds a model of Earth. As the child slowly walks around the candle flame, holding the globe, someone, usually the parent(s) share an important memory or two from each year of the child’s life.

I thought I might do something similar here with you all today. Since you all knew Owen or myself at different ages and stages of his life, hopefully you will get to know Owen a little more before we say A Hui Hou (until we meet again) at the end of this celebration.

Owen was born on a sunny, cool day here in Maine on October 10th, 2003. He became a little brother to Andrew. He was only 2 days early and when he was born he had a lot of really dark brown hair. He was a restless baby and he cried A LOT in the first 6 months.

2004: When Owen turned 1 years old, he started to walk. He still didn’t sleep well at night. He loved his big brother and playing outside. He was a pretty big baby and I carried him everywhere I went.

2005: When Owen was 2 he starting to talk a lot more. He spent most of his time with me and his big brother. We took him skiing for the 1st time and he ended up with a buckle fracture in his left tibia (it wasn’t his fault).

2006: When Owen was 3 years old he started attending the Blue Door classroom at The Children’s House here in Camden. Even though he was extremely shy, quiet and observant, he quickly made friends and settled into at least one side of the classroom. He loved fire trucks and all types of diggers. He loved to hike in the woods and jump in leaf piles. Owen loved pasta, mashed potatoes, hot coco and mint chocolate chip ice cream.

2007: During his 4th year, we moved again, into a beautiful home on Limerock Street in Camden. We had a swing set and a dog named Izzie. Owen learned to ride a 2 wheeler, he loved dinosaurs, Legos and he really started to kick up his dance moves. He loved all things pirate. He was so happy and goofy. He loved to make us all laugh and lifted our moods during the colder, darker months.

2008: At 5 years old, he started Kindergarten in Blue Door. By now his best friends, besides his older sibling, were Caleb and Aidan. He showed his need for speed early on as he cruised all around on his battery powered 4-wheeler. Owen’s love for the ocean was evident as we took family vacations to Florida, Spectacle Island and Captiva.

2009: Age 6. With family trips to Atlantis and the Cayman Islands, Owen really started getting into fish and sharks. His love for fishing only grew and his knowledge of things that live in the sea continued to amaze us. Owen continued to get more comfortable around others and his singing and dancing cracked us all up. He loved to ride his bike, hike, explore, eat pasta and roast marsh mellows. He also got really into gardening. Anyone ever see Owen with all of his kale?

2010: 1st grade. When O was 7, his younger brother, Greyson was born. The connection was immediate. Owen could be found snuggling and playing with Greyson, he was even eger to help with the diaper changes. Because a new baby and one dog wasn’t enough, we got a Boston Terrier puppy. The boys named him Chewbacca. Owen could be found riding his scooter in the driveway, sneaking mint chocolate chip ice cream out of the freezer for breakfast or praticting his signature handstands. He even took over the dance floor at his Uncle AJ and Aunt Jaime’s wedding.

2011: 2nd grade. We moved to Traverse City, MI and Owen quickly become good friends with Carson and Issac. Owen started researching things like Alcatraz and BMX biking. We took an incredible family trip to St. John. Owen fell in love with kayaking and snorkeling. Owen was also an avid snowboarder by now.

2012: Age 9. With his hat on backwards and his coffee grinder perfected, Owen could be found rapping Eminem, shooting hoops or tearing up the BMX track with Carson. With me in grad school, 3 kids and 2 dogs, our lives felt very busy. We still made time for pool parties with friends, weekends at The Great Wolf Lodge, family outings to Moomers and holidays with extended family.

2013: Double digits. So much snow to play in in Northern Michigan!

Owen’s light shined bright at school. He and his buddy, Carson started a detailed campaign to raise funds for an outdoor, 1/2 court basketball hoop. Can after can, 10 cents at a time, bake sales and donations lead to the court being built. The two even got interviewed by the local news! Deeply engaged in his projects, Owen’s leadership, determination and work ethic were already profound.

2014: Part 1

4th grade. Snowboarding, basketball, soccer, tennis, hiking the Sleeping bear Dunes, gingerbread house decorating contests, talent shows with friends, pool parties, Nerf war battles, playing in the sandbox with his bros, a long summer in Maine with family, seeing Eminem live in NYC. And cousin Forest is born!

We packed a lot into this year. We were also gearing up for our family gap year traveling the Hawaiian Islands.

It was very difficult to say good bye to our family in Maine. Uncle Casey, Aunt Ellen, Baby Forest, Grammie Marcia and Herbie, Grampa John, Auntie Lauria and many others.

2014: Part 2. We land on Oahu. Owen was determined to learn to surf. We were supposed to be following a homeschooling curriculum, instead we learned and soaked up as much Hawaiian history and culture as possible.  From Honolulu to Ko Olina. Owen turned 11 years old and we were off to Maui. Surfing Pua Mana, milkshakes at The Cool Cat, Christmas in Hana and Hamoa Beach and then, New Years on Hawai’i Island, watching surfing and sunsets at Puako, these are some of our fondest memories.

2015: We spent several months exploring The Big Island and we feel in love. From Mauna Lani, to Waimea, Hilo and Volcano, we knew that we would be leaving a piece of our heart on island.

We hopped over to Kauai and surfing Hanalei quickly became a daily adventure. Bake sales and skate park trips with neighborhood friends, boogie boarding in the huge rain puddles in the street, hiking the Napali Coast with the Collins family, and family singalongs to Makua Rothman and the Jack Johnson’s Curious George soundtrack. Owen and his singing…never in tune, always on point.

2016: A big move to Hilton Head Island, culture shock and the official start of middle school. Slippers mostly replaced by Sperry boat shoes. The beaches and ocean are beautiful, but the surf conditions not great. Owen rolled with it, literally hopped on his bike looking for new friends and became passionate about catching red fish. He gained a great group of friends, Wyatt, Gunnar, Owen B, Jimmy, Sam, he gave the football team a chance. After one season he proclaimed that he couldn’t play that sport again if he didn’t grow over the summer. He played basketball, biked all over Sea Pines, and started to play golf. We enjoyed holidays with Maine family. Hurricane Matthew was destructive and we were grateful our home was left standing.

2017: 7th grade at Hilton Head Prep…Go Dolphins. haha…

This is when Owen decided that he was moving back to Hawai’i Island as soon as possible. He knew he had to get his grades up and started researching high schools were he could surf. His Google searches landed on Hawaii Prep and that was it. Owen, driven, determined, focused on what he enjoyed and loved. I am not sure he ever listened to the word no. Owen was a "yes, I can and I will," kinda kid.

2018: 8th grade and turning 14 years old. Owen played hard, and worked hard with Wyatt’s family doing catering and working at Miss Amanda’s incredible restaurant, Pomadori. He used to come home and wave his stacks of cash in our faces. Smiley face. After Owen got accepted into HPA as a full time boarding student, we traveled to Hawai’i Island again and he spent 3 weeks in HPA’s  summer program. He wanted to make sure he was making the right decision by leaving SC and his family and close friends and moving almost 5000 miles away.

2019: Freshman Year. Owen lived in the dorms at HPA. He played his music too loud. Cooked red lentil curry and kale in the small dorm kitchen, spent a lot of money at KTA and made some great friends, Ricky, Eddie, Dom, Mason, Maile, Maddie, Camile, Cade, Kamu, Jordan, just to name a few…shout out to those of you that are here with us today.

2020: Greyson and I move back to Hawaii. Owen is now a 1/2 day student, 1/2 boarding student. He promptly gets caught trying to steal a 6 pack of Mike’s Hard Lemonade (on my watch). I believe it was even pink lemonade and a bag of chips. I get mad and disappointed. He gets his cell phone taken away and tight parental controls put on his cell phone. We get even closer. Owen is ban from all Foodlands for an entire year! I get very frustrated when he asks me buy him groceries. We explore the island a ton and watching him surf Paniua was one of my favorite things to do. I used to jog down to the coast early in the morning and Snap him a “mom surf report” while he was usually still asleep.

Then there is Covid 19 and lock down. Life is turned upside down We are scared and we are so grateful to be on island. Andrew moves on island with us and I have 3 kids with 3 different Zoom school schedules. I am a school counselor and in private practice and we live in a hot condo. We all got a lot closer. Also, Owen takes off and stays with Tain, Eddie and Camille a lot. These kids know how to laugh and have fun.

2021: Junior year. Working on trucks, driving dirt bikes, hiking to water falls, brings home a puppy, gets pulled over.. a lot. Put on the damn mudflaps on the 4 Runner and take the dark tint off the windows! Late night drives to Kona and Kohala, detailing cars, working at Lava Lava and Merriman’s. One online homework assignment after another. Thank you Maile for helping us all through that Junior Year. Saying good bye to great friends as they head off to college.

2022: Owen did it! Senior year at HPA. Capstone with Mr. Quayle. More car detailing, more working at Merriman’s, making bank, traveling to Boulder, Greece, New York City, Aruba, Miami, Maine and then back to Boulder, back to school. Working on airplanes, turning 19 years old with me and Matt by his side. Us crusin Boulder together, talking story, playing the bass, riding the canyons, going to concerts at Red Rocks and somehow getting into UC parties. Boxing, painting, singing, dancing, attending Spartan College of Aeronautics and technology and sending me Snap Chats every day.  Blue Heart emoji.

2023: New Year’s in Maine with all of us. Hiking Mt. Battie. Hugging cousins, wrestling with Greyson and Adrian. Beer pong and Cards Against Humanities.

Owen’s first winter in Boulder, snowboarding, meeting new people, studying. All of us were together in May in San Fran for Andrew’s college graduation. The last time I hugged Owen. The last time we all laughed together in person.

Just a short few weeks ago, Owen and Ricky were chilling in Mexico, taking shots, meeting beautiful people, buying machetes and hiking through the jungle. Owen was in Hawaii, he got to surf Waipio, talk story with friends and jump into the warm Pacific. Owen was in Seattle. He was in Boulder. He was so excited to be moving into a new apartment with Zeke and Lenny. He was riding his bike with Nico. He was working long hours at The Boulder Cork with his amazing team there. He was baking cookies, making people laugh and Face Timing me while he walked the aisles at Target and Home Depot.

Owen would have been 20 years old on October 10th. He would be stressed about FAA exams, be living it up on The Hill, making the new place smell like garlic and curry. He would be making money, planning his next trip and continuing to learn Spanish so he and Ricky could open that bar in Mexico and he could buy his dream house in Hawaii.