Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 -- Mattie died 88 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2007 in California. Mattie was visiting my parents, and one of his favorite places to visit was Griffith Park's Travel Town. I am not sure who liked Travel Town more, Mattie or the rest of us. It is a train museum that captures the heart and imagination. It is a very hands on place where you can touch, climb on, and move parts on all the trains. As you can see, Mattie was having a ball, climbing through the train cars and playing with all the gadgets!


Quote of the day: Bereavement is a darkness impenetrable to the imagination of the unbereaved. ~ Iris Murdoch

It was another busy day in Foundation Walk headquarters. In the midst of working, I received several wonderful emails that perked me right up. The first email was from a former Arthur Andersen colleague of Peter's. Todd wrote to us to let us know that his company, Dominion Business Solutions, wants to be a corporate sponsor for this year's Walk, as well as wants to be an on-going sponsor of future walks. Dominion Business Solutions is a management and IT consulting services firm. I was deeply touched by Todd's sentiments and told him I couldn't think of a better way to honor Mattie's memory and battle with cancer. Interesting that I would receive such powerful news on a Tuesday, marking the 88th week of Mattie's death. I went online to Dominion Business Solutions' website and found this link. I was very honored that Mattie Miracle was included in their fine list of organizations "fighting cancer!" You can check this out at the following link: http://dominion-solutions.com/whoweare/causes

This afternoon, I received this wonderful picture from our friend Debbie. Debbie's son, Tim, was in kindergarten with Mattie, and Debbie is also one of our children's activity coordinators at the Walk. Each year, Debbie and her team works hard to create fun and exciting things for the children to do at the event, and in so many ways this is a labor of love that she takes on and does so well. The picture captures her children, Eliza, Alex, and Tim working on handcrafted signs for the Walk after school. What I love about this picture is it captures children helping children with cancer. The children are energized about the walk, and all this energy and creativity will help us have a successful walk. If the walk is successful, yes it is good for the Foundation, but it ultimately benefits children with cancer and their families at Georgetown University Hospital.

Later on today, I received an email from a woman I do not know. She wrote to our general Foundation email address. She wanted to know more about the Walk. Particularly whether the event was open to the public. I responded right back to her and tried to give her an overview of the Foundation and the goal of the walk. I also outlined for her the activities and schedule of the walk. Her response to me was absolutely adorable. She thanked me for personally responding to her, she told me she was coming with her checkbook, and then said, "I am sure that you have made him (Mattie) as proud of you and your accomplishments, as he made you so proud of him." I was very moved by this comment, and though this woman doesn't know me, this comment will remain in my mind.

It was a terribly windy day in Washington, DC and our plants went flying, cracking flower pots, and destroying plants in the process. So when Peter got home from work, we had quite a clean up job. Especially since his lemon tree went flying and took down several rose bushes and other things in the process. Though this wasn't what we had planned for the evening, it did get us both outside and away from work for a while.

I end tonight's posting with a message from Mattie's oncologist and our friend. Kristen wrote, "Looking forward to walking with you on Sunday. Thinking of you this Tuesday and everyday."