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iNSPiRE | Ronan

Tuesday, September 11

Sometimes there are just things in life...
things that make you stop in your tracks...
veer you from the course you were on...
and cause you to be still and listen...
just for a moment.

Unexpected things that touch you so deeply...
Things that cause you to want others to be touched in the same way...
things that move us to take action...
and to share.

That brings me to today's post.
Instead of posting the original content I had planned...
My heart has led me to share something else.

You see...I was stopped in my tracks yesterday.
As I began my three mile walk in the early evening...
I started flipping through the music on my iPhone...
trying to decide what to listen to.
I then remembered seeing a twitter post my friend Kim posted the day before.
It was a post about a new song by Taylor Swift...
and I remember her mentioning something about proceeds going towards cancer research.
I went to iTunes to do a quick search...
and there it was...
on the home page.
I clicked on the link for a preview...
and then it happened.
Time froze as I focused on the words of the song...
which is ultimately a personal story of a mother's love.
A story I knew nothing about until the moment the song lyrics began to spill off of Taylor's lips...
A story I had to know more about after the 30 second listening preview was over.
I immediately started the process of downloading it...which seemed to take forever.
So I continued to replay the preview until my download was complete...
because I just knew I wouldn't be able to function the rest of the evening...
until I was able to hear the song in its entirety.

Needless to say...
I was deeply touched.
I knew instantly it was something I needed to share with you.
This video is of Taylor Swift performing the song at the "Stand Up 2 Cancer 2012 telethon" event.
Ronan...
a song written as a tribute to a 4 year old little boy...
a little boy who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 3...
This is his story...
his mother's story...
his family's story.
I hope you'll listen to it.


Of course after hearing the song I still needed to know more...
More about...

After some research I quickly found out Ronan's mom, Maya Thompson, created a blog called "Rockstar Ronan".
I don't know all of the details but it was through the blog that Taylor Swift discovered Ronan's story...
which inspired her to write the song.

I happened upon another video within the comments section of one of the blog posts.
It's a video that was put together and posted by a reader of  Maya's blog.
It's a slideshow of photos and some video of Ronan...
put to the music of "his song".

Although this isn't an "official" video posted by Ronan's mother...
it was a wonderful glimpse into this handsome little guy's life...



I realize I don't need to point out we are living in a world filled with amazing technology.
Social Media connects us in ways and to people we would've never been able to connect with before.
We hear stories we would've never heard...
We see emotion we would've never seen...
and we are drawn together in ways we would've otherwise never even connected.

Today I am most grateful for that connection.
I would've never known Ronan's story...
and perhaps you wouldn't have either.
I've been moved.

I hope you have been too.

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