Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Tuesday, November 6, 2012 -- Mattie died 165 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2008. Mattie was in the Child Life playroom and got the opportunity to paint a pumpkin. I can tell by looking at this picture, that it was an admissions to the hospital day. How do I know? Because Mattie was wearing clothes. Typically once Mattie was admitted to the hospital, he preferred wearing pajamas. During the day and at night. He wasn't interested in wearing clothes at all! I also notice  in this photo that Mattie was using his left hand, which also tells me that this picture was taken after his first surgery of his right arm. Mattie was right handed but after his surgery Mattie became very talented with his other appendages. 


Quote of the day: Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer


I started the day going to zumba. At class, I met up with my friend Heidi. Heidi is one of my friends helping me collect candy for our Mattie Miracle Post-Halloween Candy Drive. Heidi alone must have collected close to 80 pounds of candy for me!!! After loading up my car with Heidi's candy (which she collected from friends and her neighborhood), I then ventured to Ann's house. Ann's house is our main drop off center for Mattie Miracle Candy. Ann has been preparing me for what I was going to see, by emailing me photos each day. But the actual sight of this was overwhelming. One of the bags at Ann's house weighed literally 45 pounds!

When I got home this afternoon, I spent time carrying each of the bags of candy into our home and then began sorting. This may not look that challenging, but this sorting that you see here took me over two hours. I will be doing this for several days since more candy continues to come in.

I have piles of candy ALL over our home. Here is just one of the piles. The Foundation is getting candy mailed to us and we are actively collecting candy in Virginia, DC, and Maryland!

The second pile! We are VERY grateful to every individual and community group who contributed to our Candy Drive.

This is the third pile. Not unlike last year, when you store SO much candy in one place, the smell can actually be nauseating. Which is an ODD thing for me to say, since I love chocolate.

On Wednesday, I will be delivering a two hour lecture on the trauma of childhood cancer at the Chicago School for Professional Psychology. I have been working on this presentation for weeks now, and have developed a PowerPoint  with 54 slides. My goal is to introduce students to Mattie, to our Foundation, and to share the current research on the trauma of childhood cancer on the entire family system. Today marks the 165th week Mattie has been gone from our lives. He may be gone, but his life, his spirit, and the message of his battle live on in each activity we plan and host.