It Wasn't Enough Time
21 years was not enough time. Owen LIVED those 21 years. There are so many things we are going to miss about him. His humor, his whit, his laugh, his hugs. Everything. We miss everything. We try to fill the void he left in our hearts by remembering. We remember it all.
He wasn't done yet. He had so much more to do, but he did so much more than most. Here are some of the things about Owen that you might not know.
Owen was born 3 weeks early, 2 days after Christmas, facing the wrong way.
We loved him before we met him and have loved him every day since.
We brought him home on New Year's Eve. He was smaller than our cat Iggy.
He was the cutest baby ever. People would stop us in stores, on the street, in restaurants, to comment on his big blue eyes.
He took his first steps the weekend after Thanksgiving, in Miami International Airport, a month before his first Birthday.
Both sides of the family came to Denver to celebrate Christmas and his first birthday with us.
He tripped and fell at his birthday party and had a lifetime bump on his head from that fall.
He loved his little sister and called her "Little Laurel Cubby Cheeks" when she was a toddler.
He spent summers in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts.
He'd been horseback riding multiple times.
He almost didn't graduate from High School because of unexcused absences.
He loved tacos. He went on a taco run almost every day. Current favorites included Chivis and Tacos Acapulco.
He went to his first Colorado Rockies game when he was a few months old and went every season of his life.
He played football, baseball, lacrosse, and soccer as a kid.
His baseball team won the 2015 league championship. He was the catcher and they called him the hulk.
He was on the Denver Athletic Club swim team for less than a season before quitting.
He saw Mount Rushmore.
He didn't love traveling but traveled to Florida, New York, Washington DC, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, South Dakota, Wyoming, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, and California.
He went camping.
He was on the album cover for The Soft Civil War (2008) album by Everything Absent or Distorted (a Love Story).
He competed in a kid triathlon at the Denver Athletic Club.
He was constantly in trouble for bad grades because he never tried in school. He was probably the smartest person in the room but just didn't love school.
He'd been to Disney World, Disney Land, Universal Orlando, and Universal California.
He swam with sharks, sting rays, and turtles in Belize.
He took boxing lessons.
He had 4 tattoos.
His beard grew in red. Proof that he's Irish.
He swam with dolphins in Mexico.
He was a competitive snowboarder for Team Summit and competed in rail jams, slopestyle, halfpipe, and boarder cross. He qualified for USASA Nationals 2017 at Copper Mountain in halfpipe and boarder cross and was nationally ranked in both.
He did backflips off the Jaws bridge in Martha's Vineyard.
When he first learned to read it was a struggle for him. Lots of reading intensives followed. He learned to love reading and was building his own "library" of classic books.
He died his hair purple.
He flew across the country as an unaccompanied minor.
When he was 16, he bought himself a used Mercedes C300 and made the downpayment in cash. He paid it off before his 18th birthday.
He got his first job at Shake Shack at 15, he lied about his age to get hired. He worked there for 5 years.
He had the thickest, craziest hair that grew so fast. SO MUCH HAIR. He was terrified of going bald.
He broke his ankle skateboarding home from school his Freshman year of High School.
He loved all things Philadelphia, the Eagles, the Phillies, but had never been to Pennsylvania.
He learned to surf in Sayulita, Mexico.
He went to Yellowstone Park with his grandfather.
He bought and sold streetwear all through middle school. He would skip Anthropology class to buy during drops and then resell to local shops. He built relationships with local buyers and negotiated pricing on his own.
He built his own gaming computer in 8th grade.
He fell in love.
He sawm in the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Caribbean Sea, and many cenotes, rivers, lakes, and bays.
His foot was run over by 2 cars in 2 months. Same foot, different cars.
He went on a cruise.
He caught a trout on a fly rod.
He loved cats.
He had a teddy bear named Booger.
He watched A LOT of baseball.
He had his heart broken.
The last book he read was Bonfires of the Vanities.
He was shy until you got to know him.
He ziplined through the jungle at Xcaret.
He held a monkey in Honduras.
He had a bearded dragon named Spike.
He let his hair grow out and shaved his head several times.
He had lots of shoes but always wore a beat-up pair of black Converse.
He brought his black JanSport backpack everywhere with him.
He moved out at 18 and lived with friends. He was fully self-sufficient at 18.
He knew how to change the oil in his car.
He had a lawn mowing business in high school until the lawnmower broke.
He went clamming with his grandfather.
He spent a lot of time on boats but often got seasick.
He spent the 4th of July in Vail, Colorado.
He watched fireworks on the field at Coors Field.
He played the violin in elementary school.
He took Italian in middle school.
He liked his steak cooked to 130 degrees.
He felt more deeply than most and was very sensitive.
He did a comedy routine at his elementary school talent show.
He was learning to tattoo.
He almost always had a hat on.
His street art appeared in LIVINGPROOF magazine.
He tested into the DPS Gifted and Talented program but hated it. He was so smart.
He loved seafood. Fish, shrimp, lobster, clam chowder...all of it.
He spent 3 weeks in San Pedro, Belize with friends and family.
When he was really broke, he would make what he called "gruel". It was some combination of ground beef, potatoes, and spices that he ate over rice or in a tortilla. He kept threatening to make it for his parents.
He ate too much McDonalds and hated when they put mayo on his chicken sandwich.
His car broke down in the liquor store parking lot across from his apartment and had to be towed.
He received his tax return the day he died.
He was banned from the Stadium Inn for drinking underage.
He saw the Eagles play the Cowboys in Dallas with his cousins.
If Dunkin Donuts put cheese on his breakfast sandwich it would ruin his whole day.
He attended Metro State University for a semester and wanted to enroll for the fall 2026 semester.
His sister's contact name in his phone is "Crack Head".
He liked to cook. He especially liked to grill on his apartment balcony.
His favorite part of Disney World was Animal Kingdom.
The last baseball game he went to was the Rockies home opening series against the Phillys.
He loved kids, especially babies, and easily connected to them.
He never refused a hug from his Mom.
He had a cat named Cha Cha that never left his room. He loved that cat.
He smoked Marlboro Smooth 100's.
His eyes changed from blue, to green, to gray depending on his mood, the weather, or what he was wearing.
He had the best laugh.
He preferred Dunkin over Starbucks and always ordered a medium iced coffee with cream and sugar.
He marched in Denver's St. Patrick's Day parade with his football team.
He used to sneak into his sister's room at night and steal food out of her snack drawer while she slept.
He pretended he was a "zombie wolf" for an entire family photo shoot when he was little.
He went to sleep away camp at Geneva Glen and Woodward at Copper.
He saw live music at Red Rocks.
The last words he said to his parents were "I love you, see you in the morning".
He went white water rafting a few times.
He chopped down a tree in the mountains.
He loved his French Bulldog, Ozzy.
He and his sister communicated with each other through a banter of insults. We miss that banter.
He went on a treasure hunt for pirate's treasure and found some.
He liked to draw and doodle.
He went to the top of the Empire State Building and did not like it at all. Turns out he was afraid of heights.
He fed the giraffes at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.
Every time he backed out of the driveway he would flip his sister off, call her a nerd, and speed away.
He liked to attend car shows with friends.
He had very broad taste in music but mostly listened to rap.
He said "what's it called, what's it called....yeah, yeah" multiple times a day.
He invented the term "table fries", which were fries meant for the whole table.
He had a friendly squirrel that visited his bedroom window every day.
He fed bananas to wild monkeys in Mexico.
He saw Mayan ruins.
He cursed like a sailor. He might have gotten that from his Mom.
He always said "I love you" when he hung up the phone or left the house.
His last day we spoiled him rotten. We went to Whole Foods and bought swordfish, ribeye, NY strip, shrimp cocktail, mushrooms, asparagus, potatoes, so much food. We cooked a huge meal and ate together. He ate all the shrimp cocktail. He was looking forward to the leftovers. It took us at least 10 days to throw that food out. Even if we had known it was his last day, we wouldn't have done it differently. It was perfect.
He often slept with his door open so the cats could come in and out and visit him in the night.
He rode on the back of an elephant.
He went thrifting almost every day over his last few weeks and was getting ready to upsell his finds. His sister is going to sell everything for him. He had a great eye for what would sell.
The week he died his car got broken into and he got a parking ticket...in the same day.
He snuck out of the house often when he lived at home. He thought we didn't know.
He went to the circus and thought it was so sad to see the animals. He never wanted to go again.
When he was 4, the highest compliment he could give you was "I love you faster than a racecar".
Breakfast was his favorite meal. He was so happy when McDonalds had all day breakfast.
In Kindergarten, he fell in the Zen Garden at school and nearly cut his finger off. He thought that was not very Zen.
He fought too much but was good at it. He rarely lost a fight.
He loved spicy chips. His most recent favorite were Lay's Flamin Hot potato chips.
He always wore shorts under his jeans in addition to his boxers.
He played basketball at the Glenarm Recreations Center in elementary school. His team name was the Hustla's.
He loved to build things and has an extensive Lego collection.
He saw Denver Ballet's version of the Nutcracker several times.
He bought our cats, Pebbles and Coco, a massive cat tree for his room so they would spend more time with him. It arrived, he put it together, and he moved out a week later. Now we have a cat tree in our living room.
He was a big fan of Chili's and liked their Tripple Dipper.
Our Disney+ account was attached to his email and he had the password. We have a few TVs that are locked out and can't get in.
It snowed the day he died. He never got to see it.
He loved the potted flowers on our front porch.
His cigarette butts were constantly blowing off the front porch into the yard and all over the porch.
He could be extremely shy but somehow made friends no matter where he went. He knew the bartender or the taco guy or the neighbor or the clerk at bodega. People were drawn to him. It was beautiful to see.
He won a jalapeno eating contest at a football award dinner.
When he was in Preschool they called him "Goin Owen" because he never sat still.
He found a starfish in the bay in Massachusetts. It's the only one we'd ever seen in that area.
He had a runny nose for the first 5 years of his life. His nose was ALWAYS running.
His first kiss was in elementary school with a girl named Caroline. She reached out to him years later and thanked him for making her realize she was gay. He thought that was really funny.
He saw Wicked on Broadway in NYC.
He loved to play video games with his friends and had made friends all over the country through gaming.
We read in his journals that he had made a lot of mistakes and bad decisions but he wouldn't change a thing.
He was extremely stubborn. Even as a little kid. Once he had something in his head, it was hard, if not impossible, to convince him otherwise.
He loved Indian food, especially Lamb Saag.
He was an old soul.
He could be very grumpy but often recovered from it quickly, especially as he got older. His roommate described him as emotionally intelligent.
When he was a toddler, our friends would pay him to get them beers at parties and BBQs. We had no idea until we changed him into his PJs for bed and discovered $1 bills shoved into his clothes. He was making $20 every party he went to as a toddler.
His feet grew faster than the rest of his body when he was a kid. He would trip all the time and was really clumsy for a few years.
He went snorkeling in the big tank at the Denver Aquarium.
He carved his name into his childhood bunk bed.
His was an incredibly loyal friend. Once you got close to him, you were a friend for life.
He loved Irish Spring soap.
Even after he washed his clothes, they still smelled like him.
His spirit of choice was Jameson.
The last text conversation he had with his Mom was about Genna Rae Wings & More closing. He was devastated. If you know, you know. It was the best.
In Kindergarten, he played a soccer game in full Spiderman face paint and completely freaked out the other team.
He saw the Red Sox play at Fenway Park.
He could play guitar, at least a little bit, he could pull off a song or two when he wanted to.
He was the BEST at the claw game at arcades. He always won something.
He went indoor skydiving at iFLY.
He had an Irish flag he brought home with him when he moved back in. It kept just appearing in random locations around the house.
He loved Mexican Coca Cola.
He had his 5th birthday party at Boondocks and asked everyone to come dressed as Star Wars characters.
He LOVED hot sauce and was obsessed with Marie Sharp's Smokin Marie Hot Sauce. It's the hottest sauce in Belize.
When he got braces, we went to Wendy's for some fires and a Frosty to make him feel better. He bit into a fry and a bracket fell off. We had to go back to the orthodontist and have it glued back on.