Ro baby. I played musical beds last night as I fought off the Ambien sleep. I won. I fell asleep for about 10 minutes in our bed and then woke up, in a panic because I cannot remember the last time I have seen the stuffed animal, Gary, that I bought for you over Christmas. I said to your daddy, “Where is Gary?!” He was too deep in a sleep to wake up to help me so I just let him be. I didn’t find Gary and it’s driving me nuts. I keep pretending you hid him somewhere. Such a silly thing to be upset about but it is important to me. I ended up crawling into Liam’s top bunk bed, where both of your brothers were curled up together. I tried to lay there with them for a while and I was hoping to fall asleep. I didn’t. It was too crowded so I got up and went into your room. I grabbed the big, warm, cozy blanket that you died on (I cannot believe I even have to say those words) and draped it around my body and crawled into your extra cold bed with your Master Yoda’s and sock monkey friends. They kept me warm and I finally fell asleep around 3 a.m. I woke up today, sad like I do everyday but I forced myself to leave the house as I knew staying at home again, for the 3rd day in a row was not going to be good for me. I went to my Starbucks office instead and continued to address the thank you cards that I am working on getting sent out.
I got a pep talk today. One from your favorite lovie that always knows how to cheer me up. A pep talk that was very much needed as it’s always during these pep talks that I am reminded that I am going to be o.k. but sometimes I just need to hear it from your lovie, whom I trust more than anyone. The lovie that is connected to your soul which in turn, always makes me feel close to you. Words of our conversation float through my mind, all jumbled about.
Me: “I’m not going to be o.k. I found his hair. I miss him. I want him back. I’m bitter and the world is too bright.” Tears start to form.
Lovie: “Heyheyhey. Stop. Look at me. You are hurting. You are hurting in the worst way possible. Who told you, you are bitter? Don’t listen to those assholes. I know bitter. Bitter is not something you develop over something like this. Bitter is something a person always has. You don’t have a bitter bone in your body. You are the kindest, most gentle soul that I’ve ever known. Stop listening to other people. You are kind. You are beautiful. You are the beautiful little broken bird whose wings have been clipped and you are trying to fly again. You will fly again, I promise. He was the most amazing kid, wasn’t he? I’ve never met a kid like him before. I’ve never met a mom like you, either. You are such a handful. And fuck cancer.”
I felt like I was in the movie, “The Help,” as that scene kept playing in my head. The one where the woman tells the little girl, “You is good. You is kind. You is important.” Those are the words I kept hearing over and over. After my week of grief hell, those words were exactly what I needed to hear today. They got me through the day. They will get me though this life. They have carried me this far. I can’t even think of where I would be, without them.
My tears stopped. “He was amazing, wasn’t he.” I felt myself smile.
“There’s that smile. And not the bullshit one. You are going to be o.k. I promise.”
Picked up. Dug out of my hole. Again. I’m back standing on both feet for now.
I know you know one of the biggest gifts you have given to me. One of the biggest gifts that I do not think I would be here without. Actually, I’m quite sure I would not be here, if this person did not exist. The one person that can always hold me up, pick me up, drag me by my hair, up off of the ground no matter how heavy my grief may be. The only person I really listen to in this life, besides you. My other greatest teacher in life. I am thankful every second of my life for this gift you’ve left behind. Every second, Ronan.
Your Romom, Tricia, tracked me down. It’s been a long time coming. She begged me to go hiking with her. I told her no at first. I told her she was going to have to drag me out of the house. She didn’t have to drag me. I went the top of Camelback with her. It’s been a long time since we attended church together. I’ve missed it so much. I’ve missed her too. We did a lot of yelling at each other. We did a lot of crying on the way down the mountain. I’m pretty sure the people we were passing were thinking… “What are these girls so upset about? What stupid drama!” If only it had been just stupid girl drama. If only the reason for our sadness/hurt/tears wasn’t because we are both left in this world, without you and neither of us knows what to do or how to be; because everything hurts too much. Lots of things are broken now, Ronan. So many things are broken. But I can see they are slowly being fixed. The one’s who are meant to stay in our lives, will stay. The one’s who love us the most, won’t leave forever. They will always be here. Even when all I do is push away. They are the ones who know me. Who love me. Who believe in me. Who don’t judge me. Who don’t judge how we are “handling,” our situation as if there is even a right way to do this. I know they want to fix me, but also know they have to respect my time and my space. And they also trust me enough to know only I can fix myself. So they just stand back and silently love me. I always know this. It’s called true love. It’s called compassion. And I am so thankful for the gentleness.
At the end of the day, no matter what I write on here, no matter who I tell to fuck off…. all you have to do is look in my eyes to see the pain and love that fills my entire body. How can anyone look me in my eyes, and judge??? I am just a mom. A mom who loved a little boy, more then this entire world. A little boy who I spent 4 years with. A little boy who I spent 8 months with fighting cancer. A little boy who wasn’t supposed to die, but did and now I have to live with that guilt/shame/sadness for the rest of my life. Do you know what that feels like for a mom? No. You can’t possibly. You didn’t have him, the way I did. You didn’t love him, the way I did. Nobody can understand what that is like. Nobody can understand the bond I had with him. Nobody can understand the pain I feel from losing him. You cannot even come close to trying to understand this, no matter how much you love your kids. No matter what losses you have suffered. Why isn’t the fact that I am here, following my heart, and continuing to fight for you, Ro…. for me…. for your brothers…. for our family…. enough? Nobody hurts more then me. Even your daddy knows this. I am sure I have done a thousand things wrong, said the wrong things, made mistakes…. but these are my mistakes to make. I will make them for the rest of my life. At the end of the day, I have to look myself in the mirror and just know that I am doing all that I am capable of doing. I know that this is not the way that most people would choose to deal with this but as I’ve said before….. just because it is not their way…. why do others think they have the right to judge my way? Especially if they’ve never been through this kind of hell. Nobody knows how they would act or what they would do, until you are put into this situation. Judging me is just cruel. It’s so passive aggressive. It’s just plain cold hearted and mean. Please stop. If you don’t like what I’m saying, because it’s too sad…. just stop reading. Because I’m not going to stop writing. I am staying true to myself and if that seems selfish than so be it. All I can do is listen to the little Rovoice in my head and what my heart is telling me to do. I am nothing. I am nothing without Ronan. I am aware of this. I am not even a fucking human being anymore. I don’t know who I am or what I am doing and I am trying to figure this out, day by day. I am learning to live in the moment because the moment is the only thing guaranteed in this life. Nothing more. Nothing less. Hopefully someday, enough.
Things have been o.k. the past couple of days. I gave into the super sad sadness that I was needing to let out during the week. I’ve been doing just o.k. this weekend. Just o.k. is as good as it gets for now. And I’m o.k. with that. I’ve been sleeping better, without the Ambien. I’ve been sleeping in your bed which I have found, brings me comfort. Even though it makes me so sad, it makes me feel close to you too.
I love you so much. I miss you. I hope you are safe. G’nite sweet boy.
xoxo
ROCKSTAR RONAN 
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