Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Tonight's picture was taken in November of 2008. Mattie received this wonderful turkey hat from his school counselor. As soon as Mattie put it on, I snapped a picture. Despite the chemo and all the surgeries, Mattie was always beautiful to me. His face was angelic in many ways, and this turkey picture captured the spirit and energy that was Mattie. Though Mattie is no longer with us, Peter and I are grateful we had Mattie. He taught us a lot in seven short years, and we shared a special love that is so powerful that it continues on, even without him here. As tomorrow is Thanksgiving, Peter and I reflect on our amazing loss, and at the same time, we also reflect on what Mattie has left us..... an incredibly supportive community that continues to stay with us, who continues to read the blog, and who continues to remember and honor him. For you we are grateful. 

In light of tomorrow's holiday, I want to share a funny story my mom sent me. I hope you get a chuckle out of it too!

The BAD Parrot

A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary. Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even more rude. John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior." John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird spoke-up, very softly, "May I ask what the turkey did?" HAPPY THANKSGIVING


I am back to my cycle of not sleeping well, feeling tired all day long, and having a migraine headache. Not a great way to handle a difficult holiday week, but I imagine these two things are correlated! Since I couldn't sleep, I woke up this morning and began cooking things for tomorrow. Peter and I are spending the day with Ann and her family on Thanksgiving. I asked Ann what things I could contribute and I know she would prefer that I not take anything on, but I always feel better when I can participate in the process. I love fresh cranberries and I recall my grandmother teaching me at an early age how to make cranberry sauce. Those times in the kitchen I remember fondly, and what you have to understand about my grandmother was she was particular. She did not allow most people into her kitchen. She considered this her space, and she NEVER wrote down a recipe either. It is unfortunate that I did not pay more attention to her recipes while I was growing up, because she was an amazing cook. Nonetheless, my grandmother and I shared a special bond and it was solidified within the kitchen and cooking. So somehow cranberries remind me of her and this time of year. I also recall when I began dating Peter that he took me to the Oceanspray cranberry bog in Massachusetts. Seeing a cranberry bog was an incredible sight, and I recall (as I am sure Peter does as well) my excitement over everything cranberry that trip. I came home with cookbooks and so forth.

The other item Peter and I are working on is an apple pie. When I began dating Peter in college, I would spend Thanksgiving with his family. Since flying home to Los Angeles from upstate NY for a few days did not make much sense. It was during multiple Thanksgiving trips that I got to know Peter's maternal grandparents. Peter's grandmother was feisty. She loved her family and she also spoke her mind. Two qualities I admire greatly. You always knew where you stood with Gladys. Gladys was a wonderful pie maker and it was during these feasts I learned about her Brown Bag Apple Pie. Literally her pies were baked inside of a brown paper shopping bag. When I first saw this, I was sure she was going to set the house on fire, but naturally that did not happen. Instead, the brown paper keeps your oven clean from the pie that is cooking, and at the same time it locks in the juices of the pie. Therefore, each Thanksgiving, in honor of Gladys, we make an apple pie. So this evening as I am writing the blog, our home smells of fresh apple pie. Ann is lucky if she gets an intact pie tomorrow, since I am very fond of this pie!

This afternoon, Peter and I had the wonderful opportunity to have tea and coffee with Brett Thompson. Brett and his friend, Heath Hall, are the cofounders of the Pork Barrel BBQ company (http://www.porkbarrelbbq.com/about-2/) which is also opening up a restaurant in Del Ray, VA in January of 2011. Brett and Heath are both lobbyists and worked many years on the Hill. Over many late nights together on Capitol Hill, watching Senate meetings about Pork Barrel spending, they had a vision about creating a phenomenal BBQ sauce and also giving Washingtonians access to quality BBQ. Many of us have dreams, but Brett and Heath had the courage to follow their dream and make it come true. They both have full time jobs by day, and at night and on the weekends they work extremely hard to get their company and idea off the ground. They are living the American dream, the dream we may have heard our grandparents talking about, but a dream we do not see executed that often in today's world or economy. In many ways, Brett and Heath are remarkable men, who are excellent role models for our younger generation. With hard work and the application of your skills and abilities, you can make your dreams come true. Needless to say, they created their own BBQ sauce, which is now sold in over 1000 stores around the country. Why am I telling you this? Because of their connection to the Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation.

Last year, Ann sent out an e-mail to all of Team Mattie. She encouraged every member of the Team to spread the word about our Cancer Walk, about the Foundation, and about encouraging local businesses to sponsor or contribute a gift in kind to our Walk. Her message was circulated and it eventually landed up on the Del Ray Civic Association listserv. This is how Brett found out about Mattie and our Foundation. Our story touched Brett, and though we never met him, his company contributed financially as well as gave us a generous gift in kind for our Walk. Brett and Heath donated a case of their famous BBQ sauce as a Walk raffle item. This was a popular and sought after item, and an item that helped raise money so that we can live out our Foundation's mission.

When Brett suggested we meet today, my main objective was to thank him for his support and for also announcing our Walk on his company's facebook page in May. I have watched numerous YouTube videos on Brett, and in the videos he comes off as a very down to earth, hard working, and passionate person. I can safely say that the Brett you see on the videos is indeed the same Brett you see in person. He was generous with his time today, he listened to our hopes for the Foundation, and of course he listened to my feelings about the complexities of trying to run a Foundation while also grieving the loss of our son. He understood what I was expressing and he also let us know how deeply touched he has been by reading the blog. What Peter and I did not expect however, was his commitment to us. He would like to work with us this year and help us develop a legislative strategy and to figure out a way to help us be effective from an advocacy and lobbying perspective. Which of course is one of our Foundation's missions and objectives.

As I pause and reflect on Brett's kindness today, I am simply in awe of a person who is a busy professional, is trying to make his own company a success, and yet wants to make the time to help us. It is funny how thanking him over coffee, turned into something we never would have expected. As we said our goodbye's today, I told Brett that seeing Mattie develop cancer and die have been very challenging and in many ways have caused me to be cynical. Yet when I meet someone such as Brett, it causes me to see the beauty in people and to understand just how Mattie's story impacts all of us, and in essence how Mattie's story is inspiring someone like Brett to use his skills to help other children with cancer.