Strong

Thousand Oaks Strong, Borderline Strong, Vegas Strong… my son is all of these.
He is all of these and so much more.

It is not right for a parent to receive a call in the middle of the night and hear their child on the other end, with terror in their voice say, “Mom…”
That voice that makes your stomach drop, you can’t take a breath and you fall to your knees.

November 7th I received that call for the second time.
I am one of the lucky ones though… My son was able to make that call.

After a long night of watching the news to keep updated, phone calls and text messages, we finally got our son home wrapped our arms around him again and cried.

A few hours later we went to the freeway overpass to pay tribute to Ron.
Wow… I had never seen anything like that in person.
Our community standing there with flags, hands over their hearts, all saying “Thank You”.
That moment to me was the definition of Thousand Oaks Strong.

When we got home from paying tribute to Ron the text messages started.
My son crying uncontrollably every time.
After the third message my husband looked at me and said, “We need help.”

I don’t recall the timing of events, but minutes later our best friends and our sons youth pastor were at our house. Then what felt like moments later my husband was opening the door and about 30 kids walked in.
I had never felt such a strong sense of community before and here it was, in my house, for my family. They were there to support my son, to let him know that they loved him.
I will forever be grateful to these people.

The messages didn’t stop.
Each one heart breaking and gut wrenching.
I remember at one point looking around and asking, “how many more?”
I didn’t know how much more heartache my son could take, we could take.

The last one, the last name we received…
There are no words to describe this.
When you look at your sons phone and see “Tel didn’t make it.”
Tel was my sons rock. The big brother he never had. The person he drove to Vegas with. The person he shared a hotel room with. The person he survived Route 91 with. The person he mourned with. His person was gone.

This was all too much.

Then the fires started.
Watching the fire come over the hill from my front window, it just didn’t seem real.
We were getting evacuated.
The skies were dark and the fire was spreading quickly.
I remember being calm though… if I was going to loose my house, my things, it didn’t matter.
All that mattered was that we were ok.

I ended up being grateful for those fires.
We still had electricity, but we lost cable.
We sat around and talked.
We laughed.
We cried more.
It gave us a minute to just be together.


But, this story is more then the loss that my son has dealt with.

This story is about Borderline Strong.
The people he calls his Borderline family.
These people are the most amazing people I have ever met.
They are the definition of Strong.
They are survivors.
They get up everyday and manage to smile.
They mourn together, celebrate together, dance together, drink together, do as much as they can together to let each and everyone know that they are not alone.
They come together as one to live for those they lost.

To my sons Borderline Family… You all are the most special people I have ever met. You mean more to him and to my family then we will ever truly be able to express. I see you all. I love you all.

Becky McNey
aka… Mom McNey

Thousand Oaks Strong, Borderline Strong, Vegas Strong
Forever

Becky M.