Outer Space and Instagram

I was driving Gavin home from camp and he was talking away in the backseat.  I was preoocupied about the upcoming event (just 4 days away!!!), so I was only half-listening until I heard Ty's name and I asked him to repeat what he was saying.

"I am going to be a space man.  And when I'm a space man I will have a rocketship.  Like Ty's rocketship.  And when I am a space man I am going to fly all the way up to the brightest star and GET TY OUT!  Because Ty is not sick anymore."  That just might be the best idea in the whole world.  I so want him to go and get Ty from that star, too!  More than Gavin will ever understand.

I love that Gavin knows Ty is in the brightest star.  I love that he remembers going to see Ty "take-off" in his "rocketship" that one time (aka - the hyperbaric oxygen chamber).  I love that he wants his brother back and I love that he said it as though he was going to rescue him.  As he could pluck him right out of heaven and bring him back.  And, of course, it goes without saying that I absolutely hate every bit of it simultaneously.  Gavin misses Ty so much.  He is so lonely and his life is just so different than what I want for him. 

I want a busy, loud house, bustling with chaos and laughter and two boys chasing one another around.  Instead I have a quiet, clean and boring house.  And Gavin misses the way things used to be, even when our days were long and sad because of Ty's suffering, our home was so full of love, warmth and comfort.  Our family is simply incomplete without Ty - and without Mely, for that matter.  So much has changed and we will never be the same.  We are coping, though, and we find so much happiness in watching Gavin.  He is such a love.

Gavin is still such a funny kid and obsessed with super heroes.  He still loves to dress up, although I haven't had to go out in public dressed up in quite a long time.  I think he is feeling like he is too big to do those things already, and that makes me feel a little pang in my heart because my baby is growing up so fast!!  My mom came to visit recently, and she brought him a spiderman cake, just because.  Look at how big he is - and handsome, too!

 

 

The event on Saturday is going to be huge.  A true MESS FEST.  I can't even begin to tell you how happy it makes me.  Every single piece of this event has been inspired by Ty in one way or another.  It is everything he ever would have wanted in a party.  And party we will!!  If there is one thing I promise Ty every night, it's that we will continue to celebrate him forever and ever.  The Mess Fest will be one, huge, messy, funny celebration!  I hope he sends me a sign soon so I know that he is happy about all of this.

 

TLC Foundation on Instagram

We will be using the official TLC instagram (TLCFoundation) to post event photos and short videos, so please be sure to follow us!  If you can't be there in person, I think you will love what you see in the pictures.  You won't want to miss it!  www.instagram.com/tlcfoundation

 

That being said, it is time for me to share some other information about instagram.  This announcement has been a long time coming.  I have just been reluctant to share because I was hoping it would just go away.  The last thing I need is to invite more anger or drama into my life.  But it's been going on for so long, it needs to be stopped..... 

 

There is an account, SuperTy_Campbell, that is counterfeit.  God only knows what would possess someone to make pretend that my pain and heartache is hers.  This instagram account claims to be me, Cindy Campbell.  I have never had an instagram account of my own, and I don't know for sure who this person is or why she is doing this.  The truth is, I looked at the account a few times over the past few months and the photos she posts are beautiful!  I was even a little reluctant to shut it down because I don't do instagram and liked that someone was giving Ty a presence out there - but the fact that she is posting AS IF SHE IS ME is just bizarre and completely unsettling.  She has hundreds of followers!  All I want is for her to shut down the superty_campbell page, but before doing so she owes us all an apology.  She should be forced to come clean to her followers and encourage them to follow tlcfoundation instead.  She needs to be held accountable and to understand how serious this is.

 

People can't continue to hide behind the internet!  To create false personas and make pretend to live a life that is not their own!  This is beyond dangerous.  People who do this need to seek help.  First it was the "remembering reilly" blog, now the instagram.  I am not the only one who this is happening to, either.  It is all just so unnerving and completely crazy.   What is wrong with people??  If you have posted to this account, thinking you were talking to me, all I can say is "I'm sorry."  I never saw your posts.  I didn't really know this was all going on.  I am just so grateful to the Warrior Eli Hoax group - a band of loving and dedicated individuals who have become internet watchdogs for dangerous and illegal actions such as this.  They have been so supportive to me through all of this, and beyond. 

 

Time to come clean, whoever you are.

Most importantly, please know that I forgive this person.  I forgave the person for the crazy counterfeit blog, too.  They are mentally ill and need help.  But that still doesn't make this kind of behavior okay.  It is dangerous, hurtful and borderline psychotic.  I have enough pain in my life and every day I struggle to put one foot in front of the other.  This is cruel whether the person realizes it or not.