Bryon Garvin

This dad made a huge impact in his short life because he was a kind, loving, supportive, funnn, present father. Those qualities are felt a lifetime 🤍 💝 Hugs and love to all the dads and father figures that show up, especially for us after he died. Love you all xx Tiffany Palafox

Today marks 11 years since he’s been gone 💔 We started taking our kids to Pickathon in 2010 and I’ve kept that tradition of taking them every year since he died. These magical dusty trails leading to all of the bestest music where the 3 of us have floated like bubbles, hugging all the songs & merriment that has been healing our broken hearts since 2013 🌈🎶 Tiffany Palafox xo

Today we celebrate Bryon’s 55th bday! He was such a gift. Wish he was here to blow out his candles.

We were so thankful to utilize the amazing support at the Dougy Center for so many years to help us navigate & normalize our grief. They are the best!!

1 in 9 youth in Dougy Center's service area will experience the death of a parent or sibling by age 25. 1 in 17 by age 18. Source: Childhood Bereavement Estimation Model

Please consider donating to the Dougy Center in memory of Bryon Garvin 🌈 so they can continue to support families like ours. Thank you and cheers to Bryon on his 55th birthday. Hug up the day. Love on each other ❤️xo, Tiffany Palafox

& yes his hat says ❤️❤️

https://www.dougy.org/donate-to-dougy-center-today

Tage, Rula and I loved up the day at Angels Rest to honor Bryon’s life and his love of hiking. Can’t believe it’s been 10 years. 🌈 This was the last big hike in 2013 he was able to do and so happy it was with his two bestest childhood friends, Bob & John that came out to visit him from Pittsburgh 💙 They were like brothers to him. John DeWalt & ❤️ xo Tiffany Palafox

Today marks 10 years since my husband died. That is crazy. I couldn’t imagine surviving a day, a year, let alone 10 w/o him. I wanted to paint something for him, his last day and representing all those days since he’s been gone…. all the grief that I have rolled in since July 28, 2013 into one painting. I mean all of my paintings incorporate forms of grief and pain but also a lot of hope and love. Losing him made my heart grow bigger. And my humor a bit darker. I sorta imagined what this painting would look like but until it was finished, I knew I captured his last day, all those years and all of the loss and all of the love we shared.

I am so grateful to have had 15 years with him. He bought me my first easel and always encouraged me to paint. We have two kids that have so much of him in them that I cherish everyday. We all carry pieces of him in us that will always keep him alive. Here’s to love & loss and to getting to paint our deepest depths inside us. What I haven’t been able to put in words I have always been able to put in painting. Thank you to all of you here and supporting me and supporting all artists putting themselves out there. Art is so vulnerable and it has brought me so much fear but SOOO much more joy & growth. I am so thankful.

Hug each other for me, for our kids and for Bryon. We all miss him and will forever hold his life in our hearts and lives.

This painting felt so so therapeutic & I hope you can feel the energy, light and love from this. Though I am not actively grieving (like in the first few years, as I’m crying writing this) there’s always room for healing and growing and holding our heavy hearts with us each day, each breath.

I love you.

“For love” 18x24, mixed media, canvas
🌈🌅🌦️ Tiffany Palafox

He would be 54 today ❤️ Please raise a glass, hug your loves ❤️❤️ Cheers to life and love xo

Yesterday marked 9 years. Can you even believe it?! Bryon died 9 years ago. That is baffling. I couldn’t imagine being 9 years out. Seemed impossible raising two kids without him. I felt like he did everything and was the rock, the captain of our boat. Like how can I do this alone. But I have. I have navigated 9 years of being an only parent.

We as humans are capable of anything and I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit. We doubt so much. But really we should be our biggest fans. Cheering ourselves to achieve or do anything.

Our inner critic is the worst, stop listening to them. There’s all these things we say we could never do like get outta bed after your husband dies, run a marathon, become a vegetarian… but why do we tell ourselves we could never. Because we can do all the hard things & when I started doing all the things I said I could never do and started doing them, I became free and happier and more confident and realized all the things I am capable of and focused on that. It has made me a better, stronger parent even if it’s not the life I saw for my family. We have made a new path together.

Our kids have turned out to to be remarkable humans. They have helped captain our boat through so many times. Bryon would be so proud of them & us. Rula recently getting her drivers permit & he would be so dang excited for Tage graduated and heading off to college… his dream school pursuing what he loves. Music. (I’ll post some pics of Tage at Berklee later)

Even when we lose someone we love, the boat keeps sailing through and your new journey without them can also be an amazing one. That’s what they want, for us to live our best lives and do all the fun things we love and that brings us happiness. So stop being so hard on yourselves and know you are capable of anything and enjoy all the adventures and time with your people.

To mark his death day we did something he would love. We camped in the trees. We wished he was with us but we know how much he lives in us and that makes us happy. The pieces of Bryon that live on through us in songs, memories, love and life. How lucky we were part of his life.

Friends… hug up your lives, make it great and do all the things that make you happy! You are your biggest fan and cheer yourselves on! You are worth it. Enjoy the rest of summer. Stay cool. Tiffany Palafox xo