Sunrise sea turtle patrols have given so much beauty to me. Amazing colors, painted across vast expanses of salt water and open sky, instill within me such gratitude and peace. Occasionally that sweet peace is hard to access due to vast expanses of trash washed on shore.

This morning was a struggle…it was very humid and over 80 degrees at 5.30am. Trash littered the beach as I walked, looking for sea turtle tracks. The bag I brought was soon full and a plastic bucket was half-way full when I saw a glass bottle floating in a tidal pool. I reached for it and noticed a small, roll of brown paper with writing on it. It was wet but the writing was still readable so I stuck it in the plastic pail and carried it as I completed my walk.

After filling another plastic bucket along the shore, I got permission from tenants at a beach home to dump the trash in their can. The glass bottle remained with me as I walked the mile and a half back to my car.

Breakfast with our sea turtle team lifted my spirits from the sadness I felt from humanity’s apparent lack of concern for our beautiful planet. Good laughter and food helped.

Once home, I uploaded photographs from the morning and then washed sand off the bottle. Carefully I removed the cork and unfolded the saturated paper. The words across the top were…”For Kyle.” This wasn’t going to be like the first message in a bottle I found a couple years ago…one of marital celebration and commitment. No. This was very different. I could feel it as I unrolled the paper.

Both sides were filled with writing and the message of love was so powerfully written. It was a memorial for a man. At first I thought it was in regards to one of the sailors that drowned during the severe storm during the Mobile Bay Regatta. I couldn’t recall the date of that event but the writer mentioned him sailing away on a sailboat. It wasn’t until I completed reading it that I found out what happened.

After completing the first side I turned the note over and found a request for whoever found the bottle to please call or write Kyle’s mother in Kentucky as she loves the beach so much. “Please….if you find this ‘message in a bottle’ please write or call Kyle’s mother. Let her know you found it (and where). Her name is Rhonda. Her son Kyle went to meet the Lord on May 11, 2015. He was a victim of an explosion. He hung on to life for 2 ½ weeks. He was only 27 years old. His mother loves loves loves the sun and beach, so I thought it only fitting to write this message in tribute to him, while on vacation in Orange Beach, Alabama and during the time of his passing. So please….write her a note or give her a call. I’m giving her a framed copy of this ‘message’ so….she’ll be waiting! God Bless You!”

I did an internet search and found his name and the details of what happened. Kyle Rogers was a distiller in western Kentucky and was severely injured along with his cousin Jay Rogers in an explosion and fire on April 25th. They were both air-lifted to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville. After 2 ½ weeks Kyle passed from his body at 5pm on May 11th.

As a writer, there are few times where words escape me but now, as I sit here trying to write something that honors this young man, I find only tears for Kyle’s suffering and loss of life and for his family’s deep loss. I know that each time I walk along the beach at sunrise, searching for mother sea turtle tracks, I will think of Kyle and his family and will say a little prayer that their grief will be healed over time.

From these beaches each year comes thousands of sea turtle hatchlings that bring hope to an Ocean challenged by many environmental issues. When babies hatch from along our shore later this summer I will remember this young man and his family and will light a candle of hope in my heart for all who suffer.