You make beautiful things happen

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Ronan. You make beautiful things happen and last night was proof of that. Taylor Swift was in town for the Red Tour. We were invited to go as a family and could have not been more excited. Last minute plans were made, plans were changed, plans were made again. Brianna was in town staying with us and Macy had just left after being here for almost a week. The time with Macy here or as Poppy is going to call her, “Auntie M,” was so special. I watched Macy fall head over heels in love with your sister the same way she did with you. We did a lot of nothing except live in Poppy world. We celebrated your Daddy’s birthday which was a hard day, but as always, we just go through it the best we could. Tears were shed, but for the most part we tried to make it a fun evening by having some dear friends over. We all just mostly sat around and cooed over your sister. She truly does make many days better, but days like special occasions are still pretty hard. Macy knew this and just sat and played with my hair while I rocked your sister and the tears fell silently to the ground. She just looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “I know.” She knew what I was thinking, as she always does. How I wished so badly you were there with us to celebrate your wonderful daddy. How I wish every day you were with us to not celebrate a thing, but to just live this life with us that was so unfairly taken away from you. I will never stop wishing this.

It’s taken me a few days to figure out why I am having such a hard time writing this post. I’ll start by saying two years ago when I was first invited to meet Taylor and go to her concert, I was in a completely different place than I am now. 2 years ago I remember trying to get ready for her concert and how I could hardly peel myself up off the floor to go. I was destroyed back then and wasn’t so sure I’d be around to survive this life much longer without you. I was in such a sad place that I didn’t think I deserved to go to a concert, meet this amazing girl or feel any sort of happiness at all. I went because I had a message to share, because of my manners, and I knew how rude it would be not to go after I was so kindly invited. Little did I know that Taylor already knew all about you and our hauntingly sad love story. She already knew the message I was wanting to share and welcomed it with open arms. Fast forward 2 years later and I am now in a very different place.

I spent the day with Liam, Quinn, and Bri Bri, hanging out and getting ready for the concert. I felt excited and happy, and as always, a little sad, too. I knew Taylor was going to be meeting your Poppy sister and for me, that was the best part of everything. To me, it was like she was going to get to meet a little piece of you and I can’t even put into words how much that meant. We as a family, all went to the concert. We ended up splitting up as your daddy, Liam, and Poppy sat backstage with Taylor’s dad for most of the show. Even though we had protective ear coverings for Poppy, it still made me nervous to have her out in the loud arena with everyone. Your daddy was whisked away by Taylor’s lovely assistant and taken back stage where all was safe and sound. Liam went with your daddy also, as the concert was a little too loud for him. He’s never been a fan of anything too loud and crazy. I stayed down at our seats with Bri, Quinn and your Sparkly. There was a lot of dancing, singing, laughing, and maybe a little crying. I sat back and watched the most amazing performance and was of course blown away by the talent before me. She always manages to out do herself that Taylor girl. I felt so blessed to be a part of it. It was a night where I got a chance to put my pain on hold for a few hours and just get lost in the magic and beauty before me. Between Taylor’s beautiful voice, the smile on Quinn’s face, and the insane dancing that I did with Brianna when Taylor sang, “22,” everything about the night was perfect. Almost freaking perfect. You know the one little thing missing was of course you. I tried my best to remind myself that you were there with us, somewhere. Even though I couldn’t see you, I know you were there and I let that be o.k. for a few hours.

After the concert we got to spend a lot of time with Taylor and her dad in the most intimate setting. I’ve now realized why it is that I’ve had such a hard time with this post. It’s because of the way this relationship with Taylor has changed and evolved. It’s because I feel insanely protective of her and the way she’s opened up her heart to us. People try to exploit this girl all day long and I’m just not going to do that. I won’t do that. I’ve felt that way since day one of meeting her, but my protectiveness has only grown over time. I’ve had all of these news stations calling me, wanting to do interviews about Taylor’s concert, what it’s like to have her here in the Valley, wanting to know if she was going to sing, “Ronan,”etc… I politely declined doing any of them. It almost felt yucky to me. To me, the time we spent with Taylor was so sacred and special that I would just like to keep most of it between us and our family. At one point during our time together as I watched her holding Poppy, I asked her a certain question. She looked at me to answer it and said, “I hope I made the right call.” I told her as my eyes filled up with tears that I believed she did. I hope tonight, with this post, I made the right call, too. I don’t mind sharing most of the night, but not all of it. Some things just feel too sacred to be shared. This girl feels like a part of our family now, not some big celebrity. It’s funny because she’s never felt like some big celebrity to me. To me she’s always just felt like a normal girl who fell in love with you and who just happened to be in a position to make something really beautiful happen because she took a chance on us and followed her heart. To me, that has saved me in a way and I will forever be grateful to her and her old, wise soul. I have no doubt that many more beautiful things are to come.

As far as me not wanting to share much about our night, I hope you all understand. To me, the picture below explains everything.

I love you, Ronan. I miss you. I love you. I hope you are safe. Sweet dreams, little man.

xoxo

P.S. Taylor, Thank you for EVERYTHING. You know I have 50 million things I want to say to you, but all I’m going to say is you my friend, could give Hallmark a run for their money. I love you so much.

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Thank all of you…

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For remembering Ronan. You all are insanely amazing. I have literally received thousands of emails, tweets, texts, phone calls, blog comments, etc… about Ronan. I hope you all know how much it means to me. Thank you for remembering my sweet boy. I appreciate each one of you, so very much. If I could, I would kiss the ground you walk on and sprinkle you all with glitter. Thank you for helping this broken-hearted mama, get through this month of May. And an extra special thanks to my very amazing friends who are like family. The best kind of family to have. I love you all and consider myself so lucky to have you all surrounding me. Best sisters ever.

I love you all to the moon and back. Ronan does, too.

Thank you to one of my little Twitter followers for the picture above. So very sweet.

xoxo

Miss Taylor, how I love you so.

I wish this is what the media would focus on. Thanks to one of my little Tweethearts for sending this to me.

I love you, Taylor. Thanks for making  my day a little brighter and putting a smile on not only my face, but this sweet girls as well. I love you to the moon and back.

xoxo

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Today is 22 months since you left this world.

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Ronan. 22 months seems impossible. 22 months seems like a joke. 22 months does not seem real. We all miss you so much.

Today, is also Macy’s birthday. I know you would not want me to be sad on this day. I know if you were here, we would have woken Macy up by calling her on the phone and singing, “Happy Birthday,” to her. I will have your brothers do this. I’ll think of you, while they are doing so. I know how much you love your Macy. How much we all love her. She misses you so much.

I love you, Ronan. Happy Birthday, Macy. You are my other soul mate in life. The sister I never had. Thank you for always making us smile and laugh, even on the hardest days. I always say you are one of the most special gifts that Ronan left us.

We love you so much.

xoxo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzDPKBk18Zg

It’s 3 a.m. I’m Awake Obsessing About that Petition…

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I have been dreaming non-stop about this petition. Woody thinks there is no way we are going to get the signatures that we need. I love to prove my husband wrong, but so need your help. We only have until February 6th, to do this.

Please, sign this. It’s legit. It takes one minute. I don’t know what else to say except I cannot let Ronan down. I can’t let all these kids down who need this awareness so badly. If the awareness already existed for childhood cancer that it is so lacking when Ronan got sick, he may not have died. I can’t bring back Ronan, but I swear to you, I will help to save the kids of the future who will be diagnosed with cancer.

Please, please, please sign if you have not, and share this with anyone you can think of. We are running out of time just as these kids are and it is just not right.

Thank you.

xoxo

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/light-white-house-gold-month-september-honor-pediatric-cancer-fighters-and-bring-light-cause/syV6M6wX

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Ronan. Your song for the night. You were the best kind of trouble. I miss you.

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My favorite line that is not even in this song, but at the end of it. “I don’t know if you know who you are, until you lose who you are.”-Taylor Swift

Wise girl. Wise soul. Forever grateful.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNoKguSdy4Y

Happy Birthday, Taylor!!!

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Dear Taylor,

Wishing the girl with the most beautiful heart the happiest birthday, ever. You have inspired me in such a way that I didn’t know was possible after losing my Ronan. Thank you for being such an old soul in the youngest, most carefree way, possible. Thank you for all you are doing to help fix this very broken world of childhood cancer. I promise to make not only Ronan proud, but you as well. I promise to never give up and to fight harder everyday, because of people like you.

Happy Birthday, darling girl. I love you.

Maya, Ronan and the rest of The Ronan Thompson Foundation board members

2 a.m. Insomnia Parties With A Raccoon and A Cat

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Ronan. Everyday normal things will no longer exist in my life again. Not even a trip to the grocery store, the car wash, the bank, etc… Even the littlest things are different. I’ve been keeping myself busy enough because my life depends on it. I could easily see myself sinking into a very depressed state of mind and not getting out of bed until Poppy is born. That is why it is so important to me to have most of my days, planned out. I no longer love the luxury of not having things to do. Because if I don’t have things to do, I just won’t do anything at all and that is not a good place for me to be.

 I went to see my OBGYN a couple of days ago, just for my 4 week standard check-up. As I said before, everything with your Poppy sister looks great, but I still sat and told Dr. Schwartz about how I made the ultrasound technician check for any type of mass in Poppy’s body. She sat with me for a good half an hour to discuss how I am doing, how I am feeling, how I am dealing with all of this, and how much I miss you. I know she did not have to do this. She is one of the busiest women on the planet, but I so appreciated her taking the time to talk to me about anything and everything. She told me she would send me back to get more in depth ultrasounds whenever I wanted, she would find any excuse to send me. We have decided my next one will be at 26 weeks. She told me had you had this at birth, it would have been so microscopic that nothing would have shown up. If it would have shown up as something bigger and abnormal, they would have seen it and told me. I don’t know if this made me feel better, but I appreciated her taking the time to talk about the questions I have. She is a great doctor. After I left there, my phone rang. It was Dr. Schwartz telling me that she just got the flu shot in and she was highly recommending that I get one. I told her I wasn’t going to. She told me about the study that just came out linking pregnant women and the flu, to autism. I talked with her a bit about how I really didn’t want to get it. I would rather not put something into my body if I don’t have to. She once again, told me she couldn’t make me, but she felt very strongly about it due to how much I’m in the public and traveling. I asked Stacy and Fernanda about it. They urged me to go. I asked your Mr. Sparkly Eyes. He told me to please go and get it done. Of course I listened. I went today. Remember how I said that nothing will ever be the same again? I cannot even get a flu shot without thinking of you. I’ll never forget all the “pokies,” we had to give you after your rounds of chemo. How much you hated them. How I would hold you and your daddy would give you the shot. Shot after shot after shot. How you would scream and cry and try to be brave, but you hated it so much. My shot didn’t hurt for me today. My shot hurt for you. I’m so sorry for all you had to go through. It was so not fair or right. Any of it.
Do you know what else I’ve gotten to do the past couple of days? I went with Stacy and Fernanda to shop for your Christmas Tree that we are putting up this weekend at PCH. Of course it is a Star Wars theme. We decided this year, to do it all after your favorite guy, Captain Rex. The entire tree is going to be blue and white. Fernanda came up with the brilliant idea to find an actual mannequin and dress him up like Captain Rex to look like he is playing next to the tree. We found a kid sized one to dress up. The girls asked if I still had your Captain Rex costume. I knew where it was, but I had not touched it since you wore it on our last Halloween together. They offered to buy a new one. I told them it was o.k. We could use your little one to put on the mannequin. They both asked if I was sure. I told them I was. I can be brave. I can do this. I went and got it. I inhaled it, hoping for it to smell like you. It didn’t. I set it out for Stacy to pick up to give to Fernanda to let her work her magic. She sent me a picture of it today. It took my breath away. The little mannequin dressed up like you, looked just like you did when you actually wore the costume. I must have sat and stared at that picture for a good five minutes. I cannot believe that this is my life. That I don’t have my own Captain Rex here with me anymore to protect me. I cannot believe a mannequin is wearing my dead child’s costume. I do these things for you. Because I know you would want it to be this way. If you can’t be here with me, I will honor you by bringing your little light everywhere that I can. Including a Children’s Hospital ward where we spent so much time.
I have not been sleeping well. My internal clock has been waking me up at about 2 a.m. for months now. Last night, when I was roaming around our house, I looked outside. I saw a cat in our driveway and right behind that, a big raccoon. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a raccoon in Arizona before. I sat and watched it. I tapped on our kitchen the window. It stopped and looked my way. It was weird and creepy and I was so sad when this morning when I didn’t have you to tell my story to. I told your brothers. They thought it was pretty cool. Liam of course tried to tell me it was just another cat. Such a little skeptic he is. My 2 a.m. witching hour can be fun, Ro! Just throw a few raccoons my way. I then went on Google to do some research on if cats and raccoons are friends. Turns out, they are not. That raccoon was very likely stalking the cat to eat it. The things you learn at 2 a.m. I am a wealth of knowledge in all things raccoon now. I am also very productive at 2 a.m.  I would give anything to have you here to cuddle up to because I can’t sleep. I would give anything not to be waking up because I don’t have you here to cuddle up to. I fucking hate 2 a.m. 2 a.m. blows. I usually fall back asleep around 5 a.m. I need to find a hobby during my witching hours. Maybe I’ll start baking.
I saw your Sparky yesterday. He asked me why I looked so perplexed. I just told him I had a lot going on in my head, like always. We sat and caught up. I was having a really, really sad day but didn’t want to let him in on that. So we talked a lot about your foundation and a few other top-secret things I have in the works. I was wearing my most favorite Frye Cowboy boots that I have had for about 7 years. He made fun of them and made me laugh. I told him they were my favorite boots ever. He said he knew. I left there, feeling like my heart was going to explode from the pain of missing you. I attempted to drive home but had to pull over mid way so I could bang my head against my steering wheel and cry. I called your Sparkly up.
Me: “Do you think I’ll ever stop being so sad?”
Him: “Darling. Come on. Your boots were not that ugly.”
Not even his witty remark made me giggle. It was quiet. I just sat and cried into the phone.
Him: “I do. I honestly do. Not right now, but someday you won’t be this sad.”
Me: “I’m so sad all the time. Nothing helps. I miss him so much.”
Him: “I know you do.”
I sat and cried into the phone while he just listened.
Him: “Are you home now? Please get home. I will speak with you tomorrow.”
Me: “O.k.” I’m almost home.”
I got home to our empty house. I laid on our bed and cried for a long time. My face seems to be constantly wet these days. I wonder if my never-ending tears are because of how much I miss you, or all of my hormones due to being pregnant or a combination of everything. I used to be able to go days without crying. Now I’m crying every single day, sometimes every single hour. At least my anger seems to be under control. I don’t want to sit and punch things or hurt myself. I just want to sit and cry, so I do.
I’ve got to go now, Ro. Lots to do but all I really want to do is be busy taking care of you. I’m sorry. I miss you. I love you. I hope you are safe.
xoxo
This is the Captain Rex that will go under your tree at PCH this year. Your costume. I only wish it were your body wearing it.
This is the Captain Rex that will go under your tree at PCH this year. Your costume. I only wish it were your body wearing it.