Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2007. Mattie loved fall festivals, riding on hay wagons, and searching for the best pumpkin! As you can see, Mattie picked out three pumpkins he wanted to take home with him from the patch. Frankly I am not sure I ever rode on a hay wagon before, but there were a lot of firsts for me with Mattie. It is not at all surprising that Mattie gravitated to pumpkins. He loved bright colors like orange and red and he also loved all things made out of pumpkin. In fact, prior to having Mattie, I really wasn't a pumpkin fan. Like so many things, Mattie changed my opinion of pumpkin products and now like him, I love them!
Quote of the day: The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerson's quote completely resonates with me! In fact, I really dislike the word HAPPY for the most part. It occasionally comes out of my mouth, but usually I catch myself. The term just doesn't have the same meaning for me now that Mattie is gone from our lives. Today, I spent about eight hours in Arlington, VA at the Red Mango yogurt store. Mattie Miracle worked with the Chris Lantos Foundation to host a successful Smoothie Fest to raise awareness of childhood cancer as well as to raise funds to purchase iPads for children with cancer.
In the summer of this year, I was introduced to a couple who lost their only child to cancer. Their son, Chris battled leukemia for only nine months and lost his battle in June. When their son died, they asked their oncologist to be connected to another family who lost their only child. There are not many of us around, so this is a tall order. But somehow this couple had the where with all to realize that grief could possibly look different for a couple with only one child. They are indeed correct and I am not sure I ever verbalized that until I met them. In any case, through our connection, I learned that before their 12 year old son died, he planned a fundraising event with his music teacher. Chris wanted to host a smoothie fest. Chris loved Red Mango frozen yogurt. This was like Mattie's equivalent of a vanilla shake from Mac Donald's. So Red Mango was a meaningful place to host such an event in Chris' honor.
At times during treatment Mattie could only drink a vanilla shake, and apparently Chris was similar in the sense that he would request a yogurt smoothie from Red Mango. Though Chris is no longer with us, his parents and his teacher made his dream become a reality today. Hundreds of people showed up to have yogurt or a smoothie, they learned more about childhood cancer, and were there to support a worthy cause. Of course for me there were many memorable moments from the event that will always remain with me.
Throughout the day, I met a handful of people who were directly impacted by childhood cancer. Several cried with us, some couldn't talk about their loved one because of the emotion associated with it, but overall, those whose lives were affected by childhood cancer all spoke the same language as us. I remember when Mattie Miracle hosted a 5% sales day at Whole Foods in January of 2012. I was amazed by the number of cancer stories people, complete strangers (store shoppers), shared with me. Cancer has a way of leveling the playing field, and bonds people together in a profound way. Today was no different.
I spent the majority of the day outside the Red Mango store by a table we set up. The table featured information about Chris and Mattie Miracle. At the table we distributed Mattie Miracle brochures, business cards, beads, and encouraged people to sign up for our e-newsletters. At the table, people also made contributions to the Foundation. During a lull in the afternoon, a man approach our table. I could clearly see he was homeless. He asked me what I was doing outside and I told him. He said that he had no money otherwise he would support our cause. Then he walked away after wishing me a good day. I have to admit, I felt badly because I did not handle this interaction well. But unlike most cases in life, I was given a second chance. He came back to our table and when he did, I asked him if he wanted frozen yogurt. I told him I would be happy to have him participate in the day, and he did not have to pay anything. He turned down my offer, but came up to shake my hand and told me how special my offer was to him. I have to say for just that moment in time, I forgot about my cause, and reflected on his situation. I think his face will remain with me for quite some time.
Later in the day, Chris' mom and I went to about 10 local stores and businesses to ask them to display a flyer about the Smoothie Fest. We figured since their stores were close to Red Mango, perhaps some of their customers would visit us after shopping. Many of the stores we spoke with couldn't be nicer and more accommodating. However, two refused to help us. One of which was Barnes and Noble. I honestly couldn't believe they wouldn't take our flyer and I told them I was disappointed in their decision and that I was fortunate that there were other places I could buy books! The other store was Apple. Those who know me, know I am not an Apple fan (yes I'm in the minority!), but when this store refused to even listen to us (two moms who lost a child to cancer), my simple response was..... and this is why I'm a Blackberry user. Of course since I know Blackberry is probably going to go out of business, I am sure this Apple person thought.... who cares! But stores like Barnes and Noble and Apple do catch my attention when they refuse to help even in the smallest way with childhood cancer.
Mattie Miracle was glad that we could help our new found friends in cancer. Today's event was the first of its kind that I hosted in which Mattie wasn't the main focus, he wasn't the direct reason we were raising money, and another child was pictured and featured. Mattie Miracle is named after my Mattie and therefore what we do and how we do it always reflects upon our special seven year old. But as Emerson's quote so aptly stated.... the purpose in life is to make a difference, and helping grieving parents honor their child's memory sounds like a pretty great purpose to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment