Saturday, July 13, 2013

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2009. Mattie and Peter were in clinic together and next to Mattie is Brandon. Brandon was Mattie's big buddy. Brandon is a lymphoma survivor and met Mattie while they were both undergoing treatment. Mattie considered Brandon one of his closest friends. In this photo, Mattie and Brandon had a boat competition. They both created and designed a boat at the clinic art table and then they wanted to see whose boat not only floated in the sink, but whose boat could race the fastest. Brandon was a great sport and a great friend to Mattie. Happy Birthday Brandon!


Quote of the day: Once you had put the pieces back together, even though you may look intact, you were never quite the same as you'd been before the fall. ~ Jodi Picoult


Despite having a wild headache, I had the opportunity to go out today with my friend Ann. This is something we had planned to do for a while and therefore I wasn't going to stay at home and continue to feel miserable. Though I have to admit that my headache was very much a part of my life today. We visited a spa and tried a new restaurant in DC together. Something that we rarely get to do, so this was a special way to spend a Saturday for both of us. If you spend any time with either of us, you know we are both directionally challenged. Which can be a comedy show in and of itself. If you think it isn't possible to get lost from a parking garage into a hotel, I assure you with us it is more than possible! As my faithful readers know, Ann was our Team Mattie Coordinator. She coordinated daily meals for us for over a year, communicated to our care community regularly, and whatever wish or desire Mattie had she and our care community tried to fulfill it. So perhaps it is what we have experienced together as friends, but Ann and I can talk about all sorts of issues and problems. I would imagine if others sat with us, they would be shaking their heads or desperate for lighter topics and conversation. For us, such conversations are natural, normal, and perhaps in their own right therapeutic.

While I was out with Ann, Peter began sorting through some drawers in our bedroom. In one of the drawers he came across a Ziploc bag with two pieces of paper in it. The first paper was this one! This was the very first note Mattie and I wrote to the Tooth Fairy. On November 7, 2007, Mattie lost his first tooth and he made it quite clear to me that he did not want money for his tooth. He wanted an item (a hot wheels car). He asked me how the tooth fairy would know what he wanted, and my immediate response was he should leave her a note by his pillow. Mattie liked that plan and therefore with each tooth he lost, we wrote a note!

To be honest, I remember this first note above, but I did not remember putting this second tooth on an index card! Well that is until Peter showed me this!!! The story behind this tooth is actually funny. Mattie lost his second tooth on Thanksgiving Day of 2007. We were visiting Peter's parents in Boston. However, before leaving for Boston, I knew one of Mattie's teeth was loose. So we discussed his plans for the Tooth Fairy. Mattie told me that when he lost his second tooth, he wanted the fairy to bring him a necklace made out of pasta (raw pasta!). I thought that was an interesting and unique request to say the least. So before leaving for Boston, I put together a pasta necklace and took it with me. When Mattie lost his tooth in Boston, we did write a note to the fairy, and just like with the first tooth, we put the note by Mattie's pillow. Of course Mattie was concerned that the fairy wouldn't find him in Boston. But like ALL good fairies, they do not disappoint! Mattie loved that pasta necklace and kept it for the longest time.

I have to say that two unusual things happened to us today. Both things I feel are messages from Mattie! This afternoon while Peter was working out in our garden, he had a special visit from a Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly. Living in the city this is a VERY unusual sighting for us. But it gets better. This butterfly not only visited Peter but the butterfly decided to perch himself right outside Mattie's bedroom window!!! This butterfly could have perched himself anywhere, but he didn't, and when it comes to butterflies I don't believe in coincidences.

While I was working on tonight's blog, all of a sudden Peter and I heard something upstairs come crashing down. It startled me and I had no idea what it was. When I ran upstairs, I checked every room. When I came to the bathroom that Mattie and I used to share, I found the terracotta butterfly (which I just recently bought on our trip to Emerald Isle in June) on the wall had taken a flying leap into the sink. Do you know that it did not break or chip!!!! I have no idea how that is physically possible and frankly I have no idea what caused the butterfly to fall from the wall. The nail was intact and still on the wall, and we had no tremors, or anything to cause this piece to come off the wall. It is NOT explainable at ALL!!! I haven't had a Mattie occurrence in a long time, but as I told Peter.... Mattie was with both of us today. Or at least that is my own interpretation and I am sticking with it.