Monday, May 20, 2013
Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2009, at the first Mattie Walk. Our Foundation Walk was actually the brain child of our team Mattie supporters. The Walk was designed to support Mattie and show him how many people stood behind him in his battle. This photo is priceless to me. At the Walk in 2009, Mattie performed several magic tricks with Bob Weiman, Mattie's head of the lower school. My faithful readers may know Bob as the "Magic Man." The Magic Man visited Mattie consistently in the hospital and at our home. Bob taught Mattie magic and in so many ways, like Legos, magic was therapeutic for him. Legos enabled him to come out of his shell (which was where he lived most days as a coping mechanism to fight chemotherapy and the ravages of limb salvaging surgeries) and relate to others. Nurses and Mattie's therapists were intrigued that Mattie knew magic tricks and they would encourage him to perform and chat about what he was learning. Magic was a saving grace, which is why Bob will always hold a special place in my heart! In honor of their connection, Bob performs each year at our Foundation Walks. When I see Bob's show at the Walk, I am transported back to the day you see before you in this picture. Also important to mention is.... look who is holding an umbrella over Mattie's head in this photo? It is Brandon, Mattie's big buddy! Brandon's family comes to our Walk each year and supports us in so many different ways.
Quote of the day: Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. ~ Dr. Seuss
The weekend felt like a whirlwind of grand proportion. Part of me is still processing through the Foundation's Walk from Sunday. We said goodbye to Peter's parents today and my lifetime friend Karen this evening. We are slowly digging out of Walk supplies. But I remind myself that it took months to put materials together, so they aren't going to magically go back into storage within minutes. It will take time and effort. Effort which I just do not have in me at the moment.
In previous years I have always used my own camera to capture photos of the event in action. We do have a professional photographer who covers the event for us, but I never venture far from my trusty camera. However, this is the first Walk in which I was SO busy that I honestly couldn't take photos. I was busy mainly running the event, and with new activities added to the Walk this year, it added to the complexity of the day. I am so happy that when Peter turned to Facebook today, he found a Mattie Miracle album that Fusebox (one of our teen bands) created and posted. So the photos below came from that wonderful album.
One of the events we added to the Walk this year were zany adult relay races! Because this was a new event, I felt it would be important for me to reach out to certain Mattie Miracle supporters and encourage them to create a team to launch our concept. We couldn't of had two better teams. These teams also fundraised for us and together generated $4000 to Mattie Miracle! Way to go teams!!! One team was named, "RCC Moms Rock." This team was captained by our friend Ann (the zany one with the shorts on) and it was comprised of 9 other amazing Resurrection Children Center moms! Pictured with the hat on her head is Kathy. Kathy was a RCC mom, but she was also one of Mattie's preschool teachers. Kathy and Mattie understood each other and she brought out the best in him. As you can see, Kathy and the team were participating in the "Strike a Pose" relay race and it was down right hilarious to see these teams in action.
Our other amazing team was Foxy Voxi, captained by Grant (pictured in the white hat). Grant was actually the first person I asked to captain a team and his response was a beautiful YES. A yes without hesitation. Which was appreciated more than Grant probably knows. The team was comprised of 9 other Voxiva employees or family members! Voxiva is the company which employees Peter. So it was very meaningful that Peter's colleagues supported us in this way. In this photo, the team was doing the "All tied up" relay. Literally we gave them a ball of twine and they had to wrap it around each other. It was a riot and a mess at the same time, because the twine knots up very easily. But they kept their cool, strategized together how to solve this problem, and really worked as a team. Which was a great dynamic to witness! The spirit of the relays was excellent and truly it was a spectator sport at the Walk. It grabbed a lot of walk attendees' attention!
I am signing off for the evening and as I get more photos, I will share them with you! A big Mattie Miracle thank you to our relay teams! Everyone was a great sport and full of energy and positive team spirit.
Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2009, at the first Mattie Walk. Our Foundation Walk was actually the brain child of our team Mattie supporters. The Walk was designed to support Mattie and show him how many people stood behind him in his battle. This photo is priceless to me. At the Walk in 2009, Mattie performed several magic tricks with Bob Weiman, Mattie's head of the lower school. My faithful readers may know Bob as the "Magic Man." The Magic Man visited Mattie consistently in the hospital and at our home. Bob taught Mattie magic and in so many ways, like Legos, magic was therapeutic for him. Legos enabled him to come out of his shell (which was where he lived most days as a coping mechanism to fight chemotherapy and the ravages of limb salvaging surgeries) and relate to others. Nurses and Mattie's therapists were intrigued that Mattie knew magic tricks and they would encourage him to perform and chat about what he was learning. Magic was a saving grace, which is why Bob will always hold a special place in my heart! In honor of their connection, Bob performs each year at our Foundation Walks. When I see Bob's show at the Walk, I am transported back to the day you see before you in this picture. Also important to mention is.... look who is holding an umbrella over Mattie's head in this photo? It is Brandon, Mattie's big buddy! Brandon's family comes to our Walk each year and supports us in so many different ways.
Quote of the day: Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. ~ Dr. Seuss
The weekend felt like a whirlwind of grand proportion. Part of me is still processing through the Foundation's Walk from Sunday. We said goodbye to Peter's parents today and my lifetime friend Karen this evening. We are slowly digging out of Walk supplies. But I remind myself that it took months to put materials together, so they aren't going to magically go back into storage within minutes. It will take time and effort. Effort which I just do not have in me at the moment.
In previous years I have always used my own camera to capture photos of the event in action. We do have a professional photographer who covers the event for us, but I never venture far from my trusty camera. However, this is the first Walk in which I was SO busy that I honestly couldn't take photos. I was busy mainly running the event, and with new activities added to the Walk this year, it added to the complexity of the day. I am so happy that when Peter turned to Facebook today, he found a Mattie Miracle album that Fusebox (one of our teen bands) created and posted. So the photos below came from that wonderful album.
One of the events we added to the Walk this year were zany adult relay races! Because this was a new event, I felt it would be important for me to reach out to certain Mattie Miracle supporters and encourage them to create a team to launch our concept. We couldn't of had two better teams. These teams also fundraised for us and together generated $4000 to Mattie Miracle! Way to go teams!!! One team was named, "RCC Moms Rock." This team was captained by our friend Ann (the zany one with the shorts on) and it was comprised of 9 other amazing Resurrection Children Center moms! Pictured with the hat on her head is Kathy. Kathy was a RCC mom, but she was also one of Mattie's preschool teachers. Kathy and Mattie understood each other and she brought out the best in him. As you can see, Kathy and the team were participating in the "Strike a Pose" relay race and it was down right hilarious to see these teams in action.
Our other amazing team was Foxy Voxi, captained by Grant (pictured in the white hat). Grant was actually the first person I asked to captain a team and his response was a beautiful YES. A yes without hesitation. Which was appreciated more than Grant probably knows. The team was comprised of 9 other Voxiva employees or family members! Voxiva is the company which employees Peter. So it was very meaningful that Peter's colleagues supported us in this way. In this photo, the team was doing the "All tied up" relay. Literally we gave them a ball of twine and they had to wrap it around each other. It was a riot and a mess at the same time, because the twine knots up very easily. But they kept their cool, strategized together how to solve this problem, and really worked as a team. Which was a great dynamic to witness! The spirit of the relays was excellent and truly it was a spectator sport at the Walk. It grabbed a lot of walk attendees' attention!
I am signing off for the evening and as I get more photos, I will share them with you! A big Mattie Miracle thank you to our relay teams! Everyone was a great sport and full of energy and positive team spirit.
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