Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2006. As you can see Peter and Mattie were wearing matching preschool t-shirts. It seems ironic in a way that the sun was the symbol for Mattie's preschool and the sun has now become the symbol of Mattie's Foundation. I somehow do not believe this was by coincidence. Mattie was a ray of sunshine and a force, which not unlike the sun, it is hard to live and grow without. This is one of my favorite pictures of Mattie and Peter because to me it just shows happiness.
Quote of the day: It is the will of God and Nature that these mortal bodies be laid aside, when the soul is to enter into real life; 'tis rather an embrio state, a preparation for living; a man is not completely born until he be dead: Why then should we grieve that a new child is born among the immortals? ~Benjamin Franklin
I found this quote tonight and though I have great respect for Benjamin Franklin, I frankly disagree with his sentiments. I also have to imagine that his reflection on death did NOT apply to that of a child! For I take NO comfort in thinking that Mattie is born among the immortals!
Though I have not reported this on the blog, Peter had to pack today for another two week business trip. This time he is spending a week in Bangladesh and the second week in Kenya. The amount of flying he is doing in this two week time period is sickening to someone like myself. Just to get to Bangladesh, he must fly through Qatar. Needless to say it will take him 29 hours of flying to get to his final destination, and once he is there, there will be a ten hour time difference between us! I am not sure why I haven't mentioned his trip sooner on the blog like his Africa trip, but I sometimes I find there are topics I do not care to talk about.
I received an email from my lifetime friend, Karen today and she asked me about the timing of these trips. The Africa trip occurred over Mattie's 9th birthday and this current trip occurs over Easter. Naturally in the business world such dates of importance are not factored into the equation. Most likely at one time, I wouldn't have thought twice about it either, but our life circumstances are different now. It was hard not having Peter here for Mattie's birthday and as Easter comes and goes, it will be challenging without Peter again. Why? Because no one else truly gets how upsetting these holidays are to me. Peter of course does, because he is living the nightmare with me. So I reflect on Karen's comment, and I too wonder, what other travels dates are in store for us. Peter returns the day before Mother's day. Another horrible day in the year for me, and perhaps the day will just pass by, since when Peter returns he will be all screwed up from time zone changes.
Needless to say, I will be giving you Peter updates from around the world! Peter and I spent the day at home trying to get him packed and working on Foundation items together. We were quite productive. While on the Internet, I found the following two links about The Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation Walk. The first link takes you to the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area LEGO Train Club site (WAMALTC). WAMALTC will be hosting a wonderful Lego model train display at the Walk, and the trains will we working and moving through Lego city displays. The second link features our Walk advertised on the community services site of a local school, The Lab School. The School is encouraging its students to participate in our Walk. I wasn't sure how the School found out about our event, so I wrote the Head of the School today. She wrote back immediately and put me in touch with her community services coordinator. It turns out that one of Mattie's former babysitters, Alyx, is now a speech therapist at the Lab School. So we thank Alyx for promoting our event at the School!
Washington, DC Metropolitan Area LEGO Train Club (WAMALTC)
http://wamaltc.org/
The Lab School
http://www.labschool.org/content/communityservice-0
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