Happy Birthday Skye

Transcript:

0:03

Happy birthday Sky, February 22nd, 1987.

That would make you 3737.

It's crazy to think that the last time we saw you, you were just 21.

0:22

That's 16 years. 16 years of not knowing.

A lot can happen in 16 years and a lot has happened in 16 years.

So much can change and so much has changed.

0:45

I think back to when we were kids.

I was pumped to have a little sister.

I was four years older and I remember you must have been one, maybe two, And I felt like I was in charge of you, that I had to look after you sometimes.

1:14

I remember I couldn't carry you for whatever reason, and I would drag you across the room by your ankles, all of us laughing as a big sister would in a situation like that, Matt would join in.

1:41

I feel like Matt would try to pull me by my ankles and I would try to pull you and it would just be a line of us just playing and just doing what doing what siblings would do.

2:01

I remember being jealous.

You were four years younger, and I remember having to go to school while you and mom would go out for Friendly's breakfasts.

And I was always like, why?

Why didn't we do that?

2:17

I never got to do that.

But it was a different time.

Four years can make for different parents, make for a different childhood.

And everybody loved you.

You were easy.

2:34

You never put up a fight.

You always went along with the with the flow.

I remember dinner times or any time the family would eat Matt and never ate anything.

2:51

I was super picky but not not nearly as bad as Matt, but you you Scott, you, you would eat everything and it was so easy for my parents comparatively.

3:11

You were just always smiling.

You seem to be everybody's favorite.

You were the quiet one, shy, but you had your few neighborhood friends.

3:32

You had strong boundaries too, which sometimes was great, but sometimes it alienated you.

You had your own interests, then you stuck with them.

3:50

They were different and misunderstood, but you didn't care.

You just did it.

You were into it.

You were.

You dove head first into something that you loved.

As we got older, the four year difference felt like a lifetime.

4:10

Sometimes I was just getting out of elementary school while you were entering.

I was just graduating high school as you were just about to become a 9th grader.

Sometimes it felt like as we got older, our lives barely overlapped.

4:33

We lived in the same house.

We ran into each other in the kitchen.

We, you know, shared bathrooms.

But there was a distance that grew between US in our teens and in our young adult years.

5:01

And that's something that just happens.

I always thought that when I finished college and got a job and you, you know, did the same, that eventually we would find each other as adults and be friends.

5:20

That's what it looked like for my mom and her sisters.

So I thought the same would happen for us.

But just as we were becoming adults, things shifted so dramatically to a point that is unfathomable.

5:49

On April 1st, 2008, Sky, you took a one way ticket to Japan.

You didn't tell anybody.

And 16 years later we still have no answers.

6:08

Today in 2024, you're 37 and yesterday I got some news.

That's the most actionable thing that we're able to do in a very, very, very long time.

6:31

The Southington Police, with the help of Interpol, was in communication with the Japanese government and we were informed that in order to submit new DNA we have to go to Japan.

6:50

My mom and I have to physically go to Japan and I got this news right before your birthday.

If that isn't a sign, I don't know what is.

So for your 37th birthday sometime in 2024, when I can iron out all the logistics, I think we're going to be able to do like one of the last most actionable things that we can do in your disappearance.

7:25

And we can check the databases in Japan, check any gene dose, check any other cold case files that they have access to, and maybe get some answers.

It's the weirdest birthday gift ever.

7:53

I don't think anybody ever wished for that.

But this is good news.

This is really good news.

So to everybody listening, this has been a very long time coming since I started talking about Skye's case more publicly and on social media.

8:26

Over the past almost two years, I've been trying to lay the groundwork for something like this to happen.

The realities of a cold case are the very rarely anything ever happens and this is amazing and I couldn't have done it without everybody's support.

8:53

Throughout this journey I have been my most vulnerable.

As you can tell, I don't edit.

9:10

I think there is so much said when nothing is said.

So I keep those parts in because it's hard to really put into words what living with this kind of experience is like, because sometimes there are no words for it, sometimes it's just the silence of the pain that needs to be felt.

9:55

And I appreciate everybody who has been able to stomach this along with me.

It's been a a very humbling experience and it was a very, very lonely and dark for a really, really long time.

10:22

And even when we go to Japan, I am keeping my expectations low, mainly out of self preservation.

But the act of still going is the definition of hope.

11:03

So I hope we can all celebrate Sky's birthday today and celebrate the next steps in Sky's case.

And we can all hope together that we get some some kind of answer, whether good or bad.

11:23

Any answer is good, Any answer.

For those of you who have offered to donate, I have set up a GoFundMe, but I do not expect.

11:46

I do not expect or demand anything from you.

You've all done more than enough, but I I do appreciate if you if you do or can over the next few weeks I hope to get more information.

12:13

I'm still waiting on a point of contact in Japan that will be provided to me from is the Southington Police Department and once I get that information I can then hopefully lay out the logistics of how to get there and what we want to do while we're there.

12:37

It also comes at a tricky time with my family at this point.

My grandmother is not doing well, and I'm not pushing my mom to go when she's not ready.

I won't push her to go until all of her, whatever she needs to complete is done, if you understand.

13:08

And of course, when life happens, it all happens at once.

And I will be moving across country during this time as well.

So a lot is going on all at once.

While it may be overwhelming, I have faith that everything will fall into place because that's how it's supposed to happen.

13:37

So I don't want to cry anymore.

I'm going to cry some happy tears from that one and I'm going to spend the rest of my day with Sky in my thoughts.

13:58

And I hope you do too.

So happy birthday Sky.