A TRIBUTE TO MY NEPHEW

There was a supermoon on May 7th, 2020. Astrologers will say a supermoon is the closest new or full moon to the Earth. Maybe that is so but the supermoon that occured last week was in fact not a moon but my nephew RT shining bright in the sky the day after he was called to heaven.

Randy Thomas, who we called RT, was born handicapped. My sister was in a severe car accident when she was 6 months pregnant. She and my brother in law were young parents but that never mattered. From the moment he was born RT was their world.

Sure every parent says their children are the center of their world and it’s absolutely true. But the love Danielle and Randy had for RT was unlike anything you ever saw. If you know them then you know exactly what I’m talking about. And even if you only met them for a few moments in passing I guarantee you walked away saying man those are some loving parents.

You see their story was a love affair from beginning to end. RT was never able to walk. He could never speak. That didn’t stop Danielle and Randy from letting him live the most fulfilled life with adventures. He may not have been able to ride motorcyles with his Dad but you bet his wheelchair was decked out with street stickers that they zipped him around in. He could’t talk but my sister always let you know exactly what he would be saying. Curse words and all. He could never drive a car but that kid went across country in a van with his parents. They made sure he got to see the world. Halloween? Dressed up every year, wheelchair decorated and trick or treating they brought him. School? He got on a school bus as a kid and went to school everyday.

Everyone who met RT loved him and I mean everyone. He was born with an aura around him. A smile and laugh so big it just lured you in. A boy with so many disabilities you would think he would be so sad. Not at all. Pure love and light radiated from his soul. If you looked at him and felt sadness then you missed it. You didn’t look hard enough. You didn’t open your eyes or your heart wide enough to let his grace in. He was truly a gift from God. A reminder that beautiful souls live amoungst us.

RT beat the odds more times than I count. He was only supposed to live a few years. He beat those odds with flying colors. There’s no question in my mind why he surpassed those odds. He lived off the love he had from his parents. Their love was his oxygen, his will to live, his reason to wake up every single day and smile.

I wish I had a closer relationship all these years with RT. Our family is complicated but that is not what this story is about. My story is to share that light of love RT left me with. To give you a glimpse into a set of parents that any of us can aspire to be.

Some will question if God was testing Danielle and Randy all these years. Perhaps he was, but you know what God? They passed with flying colors. I am sure any of us would have done what they did for their child. But would we have done it half as well? That I am not so sure. I don’t think anyone could have done it better than them.

RT passed away from pneumonia on May 6, 2020 at 29 years old. I think the saddest part is he had to take his last breath during a pandemic. That part makes me angry. We knew it would happen but now? Why now? We should be celebrating his life together. Friends, family and all those that were blessed enough to know him. So I ask you to celebrate his life with me. Look into the sky tonight. Find that moon. That is him. That is RT. The brightest light left the Earth last week. He is no shining star in the sky. A star is not big enough. He is the moon. The supermoon. Forever shining his light on all of us.

Rest sweetly my only nephew. I hope you know how much I loved you.