When Darren Baysore, now age 6, lost his father a year ago, the lights went out in a very literal sense. The child and his father, Staff Sergeant Thomas Baysore, had a special connection to each other and the moon. Before Sgt. Baysore shipped out to Afghanistan, he told his son that he could talk to the moon as if that were dad and that his dad would always receive the message. Darren’s Mom, Jamie, had an unseen hand in making that possible.
On September 26, 2013, the day Darren’s father was killed in action, his mom told the boy that his dad would divide time between heaven and the moon. So Darren asked his mom if they could turn their front porch light on so his dad could see it shining his love. Fighting back tears, she naturally complied.
This year, on the anniversary of Sgt. Baysore’s death, the light went on again — but not just on the porch of the Baysore home in Clarksville, Tenn., but all over the country and the world. The outpouring was in reaction to Darren’s request that the love light be especially bright.
NBC News notes:
People posted photos of their lights on Facebook. And not just porch lights, but a soldier’s bunk in Afghanistan with lights strung around it, an illuminated ambulance bay, and even a trucker who left his rig lights on all night long. There were photos of children who were saluting the camera; veterans and active-duty servicemen and women posed in front of lights for the occasion.
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On Sunday, Darren said he wanted to thank all the strangers that helped him. His mother said Darren had been experiencing grief and night terrors for the past year, but this weekend, laughter came back to the house.
“All I could think of is that millions of people — that touched us — had helped restore that for us,” Jamie Baysore said.
