Sunday, June 23, 2013

Sunday, June 23, 2013


Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2004. Mattie was two years old and from my perspective, whimsical! Mattie was playing with Mr. Potato Head and instead of putting the glasses on the Potato, he decided to wear them himself. Upside down no less! Mattie was always full of surprises and kept us on our toes. He forced you to think outside the box, and when you didn't he helped you rise to the challenge.







Quote of the day: You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

MATTIE MOON WAS SHINING BRIGHT LAST NIGHT RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR DECK DOOR!

It is funny, when Mattie entered Resurrection Children's Center, his preschool, the symbol he was assigned was the moon. Each child was given a symbol in school, a symbol that started with the letter of your child's first name. So throughout preschool, Mattie was nicknamed "Mattie Moon." It seems rather ironic, now eight years later, we still refer to our Mattie Moon. Now this cute nickname has even greater significance. So many of our Mattie supporters also look up at the moon, as I do, and reflect upon Mattie. In preschool, Mattie Moon referred to our actual boy, now "Mattie Moon" refers to the brightly shining orb in the sky that figuratively represents the spirit of our dear Mattie. In so many ways the moon has been given a new name, it isn't just the "moon," it has been reclassified as "Mattie Moon."

The moon over the last two days has been extraordinary. In fact my friend Charlie sent me an email on Friday letting me know that a super moon would be in the night sky on Saturday/Sunday. Super moon refers to a full moon that is closest to the Earth in its monthly orbit. Although Super Moons happen every year, they are more dramatic because they are 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than when the moon is furthest from the Earth. My friend Tanja text messaged me last night too and asked if I saw the moon! She said it was glorious and made her think of Mattie. In fact, I would bet that many of my readers are now conditioned to look at the moon, and think.... oh yes there's a Mattie Moon!!!!

Peter went outside last night and snapped all sorts of Mattie Moon photos. Between our buildings were these incredible clouds floating by and they were illuminated about this very special moon.

In the midst of moon shots, Peter also captured our deck at night. All these plantings may not look out of the ordinary, but if you could see what surrounds us, you would quickly conclude that we most definitely have added a lot of greenery to our concrete world. Green which is appreciated by birds, butterflies, and of course people. It was quite special for me to see our deck illuminated through this photo/moon.

Today was one of those wonderfully grey and rainy DC days. After a glorious sunny day yesterday, I was contemplating going out again today. However, the rain changed my mind for me. Instead I decided to do more Foundation work and just stay home. That of course doesn't help my mood, but at least I can say I got a couple of important things done. Peter and I had a more serious conversation this weekend about what to do with Mattie's room. This is a hard conversation to have because at the moment everything is how Mattie left it. Even the notion of touching it and transforming it does bring about guilt, sadness, and a whole range of emotions. Yet a couple of nights ago, I had a dream or vision about how the room was transformed and I suppose this got me thinking. The room was transformed into something usable but also captured the essence of Mattie. So it gives me something to think and reflect upon.