Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2004. We took Mattie to Roosevelt Island and Peter was teaching him how to skip a stone in the water. Roosevelt Island was the perfect setting for Mattie because it gave him the room to explore trees, climbing rocks, learn about birds, deer, and even wild turkeys. Not to mention water to play with his toy motor boats!
Quote of the day: Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. ~ Lao Tzu
There is great truth in tonight's quote. I would say that loving Mattie deeply gave us extraordinary courage, courage under the worst of circumstances. When I reflect on our life in the hospital, dealing with horrific treatments, side effects from treatment, constant stimulation from hospital equipment, personnel coming into our room non-stop, and the overall lack of personal space and privacy, I am not sure how we managed all of this. Most days, if not hours, we were dealing with life and death decisions. We were adults, trying to help a six year old cope with a life threatening illness, and yet we ourselves were scared and uncertain of what we were doing in our new found home, a hospital. But what it comes down to, is when you love someone, you find the energy, where with all, and determination to make things better, to take charge even under the most toxic of situations, and to instill security and hope.
I never left our home today. I moved from one Walk task to the other. Peter was right besides me working as well. A good portion of my day was spent staging 11 out of 12 raffle baskets. The raffle coordination is a full time endeavor. It takes months of brainstorming raffle themes, the solicitation of stores and companies, purchasing items to fill in the gaps, and now the arranging and staging of items within each basket to make it look enticing. I never did 11 baskets at one time, but I did it today. It was exhausting. So now I have 11 staged, but tomorrow I have to finish wrapping them with cellophane and bows. Which is NO easy process. I am hoping to show you photos soon of each of these creations!!!
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