Thursday, November 10, 2011Tonight's picture was taken in November of 2003 at Peter's parents house in Boston. Peter's mom gave Mattie a hokey pokey Elmo toy for Thanksgiving and I sat behind Elmo (the red Sesame Street character on the floor) and snapped pictures of Mattie. This is one of my favorite pictures that I am sharing with you. I love Mattie's sheer fascination with this animated doll. What you need to understand was this toy was battery powered and literally pretended to sing the hokey pokey and dance, and Elmo even turned around. Mattie never saw a toy do this, it was a first. Mattie was in LOVE with the character of Elmo, so much so that when Elmo was on TV, no matter where he was in the house, he would stop in his tracks and be glued to the TV. A rarity, since Mattie for the most part wasn't a TV person. What this picture doesn't show was after watching Elmo, Mattie got up on his feet and danced the hokey pokey with the toy. It was a priceless sight!
Quote of the day: Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds. ~ Siddhartha Buddha
Somehow being surrounded by 238 pounds of candy (YES PETER WEIGHED IT!!!!) makes tonight's quote much more meaningful to me. Mattie's presence and spirit are felt in the kindness and generosity of his communities! The outpouring of Halloween candy has far exceeded my expectations. Mattie would have been thoroughly impressed with what we all accomplished together in just one week's time, with not much advanced notice.
This morning I spent several hours counting and bagging a good portion of the candy. I am happy to report that the grand total is 8423 candy items which I am bringing to the hospital on Friday. Keep in mind that in July, we donated around 650 pieces of candy, and at the time I thought that was a lot. This delivery certainly surpasses that and when I tell you that our home smells like a candy factory I am not kidding. In fact, too much of something can some times be overwhelming to the senses. I never thought I would say this, but right now, chocolate is NOT appealing. I took a picture of the grand total for my readers and even copied my table of candy quantities below so you can see the incredible success of this project. For all of you who contributed, THANK YOU!!!
Type of Candy | Quantity |
Peppermint Patties | 64 pieces |
Laffy Taffy | 127 pieces |
Hershey Kisses | 264 |
Butterfingers | 252 bars |
Nerds | 121 mini boxes |
Milk Duds | 141 mini boxes |
Tootsie Rolls | 530 pieces |
Mini Oreos | 15 bags |
Mini Pretzels | 12 bags |
Whoppers (chocolate balls) | 459 packs |
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups | 316 cups |
Reese's Peanut Butter mini cups | 155 pieces |
Lollipops | 298 |
Plain M&Ms | 237 packets |
Peanut M&Ms | 74 packets |
Twix | 245 bars |
Kit Kats | 536 bars |
Candy Bugs | 20 pieces |
Nestle Crunch | 161 bars |
Almond Joy | 98 bars |
Mixed NON-Chocolate candy | 1775 pieces |
Mixed chocolate bars | 2483 pieces |
Gummi Bears | 40 mini bags |
TOTAL: | 8423 items |
Peter and I received an email yesterday from another local foundation who wants to chat with us about our hospital snack cart. They would like to implement this idea at Children's Hospital in DC, but are looking for some advice and input about how to start such a project. This project can have its challenges especially when you take into account that we live in an era where we need to be conscious of food allergies and other liabilities. So it appears that our newsletter has reached various individuals in our community and we are honored to be consulted on such an important psychosocial service.
I went to Ann's house to pick up more candy today and while there, I learned that my 11 year old friend, Katharina, was at school and wasn't feeling well. So before dealing with more bags on candy, I went to pick Katharina up at school and drove her home. I haven't had the opportunity to pick a child up at school for quite some time, so this activity seemed so different or foreign to me, and yet not foreign at all. Katharina was happy to see me and we chatted all the way to her home. Katharina, I believe, considers me a friend and reaches out to communicate with me without being prompted. I consider that a great honor, and on some level I feel Katharina, an only child herself, understands the magnitude of Mattie's loss for me.
Later in the day, I went to visit Mary, Ann's mom. I hadn't seen Mary for over a week, and as Mary's disease progresses it does become harder and harder to have a conversation with her. Despite Mary being unable to talk at times, I know she is listening and understands everything I am saying. As I told her tonight, I know her well enough to read her eyes. She loved that comment, and batted her eyelashes at me. When I first arrived in Mary's room, she was resting. So I decided to put away the items from Bath and Body Works that I bought her. After which I then sat on her bed and said hello to her. She opened her eyes and was clearly groggy as if waking from a deep slumber. The next thing I saw was a huge smile. She then opened her mouth and told me she missed me and reached for my hand. It was a lovely interchange and even when she is unable to communicate, I land up sitting with her and telling her stories or my perspective of the day. Communicating with Mary reminds me that so much of the importance of connecting with another human being goes beyond words. Sometimes words aren't needed.
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