Saturday, December 1, 2012Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2008. Mattie was home between treatments. As you can see, his left arm was wrapped up in a cast from his second limb salvaging surgery. In addition, his right leg was also healing from a limb salvaging surgery. Yet Mattie decided to hobble over to the piano, sit down, and peck away at the keys. Mattie wasn't playing a song per se, he was creating his own piece. It was beautiful actually and I remember it so well.
Quote of the day: What you are to do without me I cannot imagine. ~ George Bernard Shaw
For all intensive purposes, I have had this horrible headache for a week now. It is relentless and debilitating. Yet this is a busy time of year for the Foundation and I have a lot of things to do which require computer work. I continue to fight with my bladder condition and I am thrilled to be seeing my doctor on Tuesday. The poor thing will not know what will hit her next week.
Peter and I are told on occasion that Mattie's classmates still remember him, and they have integrated him into their everyday lives. We naturally absorb what we are told, but since we do not see or hear this directly, it is hard to understand this fact. After all, we are not interacting with these children anymore and unless a parent shares a story with us, there is no way we will know that Mattie's memory lingers on. However, today I received two different emails from friends about two totally different issues.
My friend Ann, sent me a message that her daughter, Abbie (who was a friend of Mattie's and was in Mattie's kindergarten class) liked my Holiday centerpiece that I just designed. In fact when Abbie heard that I created this piece she told her mother that Mattie must have gotten his creativity from me. A beautiful compliment to both Mattie and me. Mattie was the king of creativity, he could think outside of the box, and could practically make anything work, run, move, and function. So I was touched by Abbie's comment, and the gift is that it was unsolicited and unexpected.
The second message I received today was from my friend, Alison. Alison wanted me to know that her son, Paul, who was a friend of Mattie's and was also in Mattie's kindergarten class, had received a text message today from a school friend. Apparently this friend was electronically circulating the picture of me with all the Foundation candy! The electronic message was NOT started by an adult. Instead it was inspired by children, children who knew Mattie and who thought that the candy drive was great! Alison sent me the message to let me know that children do remember Mattie and such memories occur within their daily existence.
Somehow hearing these two tangible examples today was very powerful. Because I can keep writing until the cows come home, but I am only one person. It is lovely to know that Mattie intimately touched the lives of so many.
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