Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2003. Mattie was one year old and as you can see here, was traveling around by his favorite method. In a backpack on Peter's back! That particular day we took Mattie to Great Falls to walk the trail and to see the water. Mattie loved it, he loved the freedom of being up high and to have his legs dangling in the air, but check out that smile!!!! Guess who he was smiling at?!!!
Quote of the day: When you're struggling with something, look at all the people around you and realize that every single person you see is struggling with something, and to them, it's just as hard as what you're going through. ~ Nicholas Sparks
The highlight of my day today was going to zumba class. To me this is a great way to start the day and to get the body and brain moving. I joke with Jenny, my teacher, all the time. She needs to make house calls. I like her class so much that I drive from DC to Alexandria to attend it. After class I returned home and worked the entire day on Foundation items.
I had a conference call today with one of our psychosocial standards working groups. As a reminder four working groups were created as a result of the think tank the Mattie Miracle Cancer foundation funded and hosted in Huntington Beach, CA, in February. I have to tell you these are very diligent psycho-oncology professionals. I serve on two different work groups and each group has MONTHLY calls. Mind you these professionals are not getting paid or compensated in any way for the research, time, or surveys of fellow practitioners they are performing. When you sit back and think about this, one has to say WOW! I do not know many people self motivated these days and compelled to help out of the goodness of their hearts, especially when they already have such full schedules and work loads. But this group of people truly is an eye opener to me and I feel quite certain their patients and families are lucky to have them on their cases. This group realizes that I am working along side them on this psychosocial standards process, but in addition to that, they also listen to my concerns and feelings about some of the things lacking in Mattie's care or especially in our bereavement care (or should I say LACK there of care!!!).
Some of these psychologists I have had the pleasure of meeting in Huntington Beach in February. Several of them left a lasting impression on me. Especially two of them which referred to Peter and I as "the real deal." Which is a compliment and refers to the fact that we aren't all talk, but we are a Foundation that talks and acts. In some cases actions do speak louder than words, and as co-founders of the Foundation, I have learned that my role is to remain focused and not get swayed by other organizations and their priorities. The priorities are very clear to me and when in doubt, I only need to reflect upon Mattie and our battle together for some perspective and clarity!!!
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