Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2008. Mattie was sitting next to Linda, his Child Life Specialist. Linda understood Mattie after her first couple of encounters with him and she knew one of the things he liked to do was to have some responsibility. Which was why on the weekends, when in the Hospital Mattie got to feed the fish which used to be on the fifth floor. Weekends were horrible in the Hospital, because in many ways it was like a ghost town without much activity. Mattie would get very depressed on the weekends, but when he knew he had to feed the fish, he would agree to leave the room (and I assure you being cooped up in that two by four of room for hours was stressful). But only for that task! As you can see here, Mattie was helping Linda sort through a toy delivery. Another task Mattie loved! Seeing new toys and items were stimulating for Mattie, and though at the time people commented to me that Mattie was getting spoiled with toys, what they failed to understand was there was no school and not the same outside stimulation that a kid typically has access to in a given day. So toys were an excellent distraction!
Quote of the day: When a small child, I thought that success spelled happiness. I was wrong, happiness is like a butterfly which appears and delights us for one brief moment, but soon flits away. ~ Anna Pavlova
The highlight of my day today, was meeting my friend Debbie. Debbie is a dedicated Mattie Miracle volunteer and has been coordinating children activities at our Foundation Walks for four years straight. In fact, in 2009, when Mattie's care team held the "Mattie March," which was the impetus for the Foundation's first walk in 2010, Debbie was in charge of kid activities as well. So in essence Debbie has been overseeing this role for five years in total.
Debbie's son, Tim, was in Mattie's kindergarten class and both boys have birthdays a day apart from each other. I also distinctly recall that Mattie lost his first tooth within his kindergarten classroom and Tim was a good sport, because Mattie apparently spit the tooth right out at Tim. It wasn't necessarily directed at Tim, I think Mattie was just not happy having a tooth rolling around in his mouth and wanted it out. Nonetheless, I am sure that was a memorable moment for both boys!!!
In all reality all of Debbie's family is involved with the Foundation. Her children all volunteer at our annual Walk and her husband is the treasurer of our Foundation. In fact, as I say often, there may not have been a Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation today if we did not have Peter's help (Debbie's husband is named Peter too!!!) back in 2009. Debbie's husband helped my Peter and I establish the right contacts to help streamline the paperwork process to become a 501c3. Becoming a tax exempt non-profit is cumbersome and not as easy as some may believe. Grieving the loss of a child is so horrific, that if I had to fill out paperwork and draft documents right after Mattie's death, it may have never happened. Thankfully with support, we gave birth to Mattie Miracle, my second child.
Over lunch, Debbie told me about a place in San Juan, Puerto Rico called the Butterfly People (http://www.butterflypeople.com/art/butterfly_tour.htm). I have to admit I have been to Puerto Rico before but never heard of this wonderful art gallery, featuring all things butterfly!
When Debbie went into the gallery, she told them about me and my connections to butterflies. One of the ladies Debbie spoke to said..... believe your friend. Meaning that butterflies are special symbols and they do help us stay connected to our departed loved ones. The irony is I never knew that there is a culture that believes in the power of the butterfly. This was fascinating to me!
November 2nd, All Souls Day, is a little-known or observed holiday in most of the U.S. outside Catholic circles. But in Mexico, the date is heralded by a remarkable natural phenomenon that happens each year in the fir-clad mountains of central Mexico. Like clockwork, millions of monarch butterflies return to these remote forest sanctuaries during “El Dio de los Muertos,” Which translates into the Day of the Dead. On this day, the local people celebrate it with festivals of all sorts and they view this vast migration of monarchs as the souls of departed ancestors returning to earth for their annual visit. I attached a photo below of what such a migration looks like. There are so many orange butterflies in this tree that they practically look like leaves. Don't they?
I find it fascinating that in one culture the butterfly is legendary and has significance and yet in our Americanized world such symbols are not necessarily valued or even appreciated. To many, turning to nature, butterflies, dragonflies, and so forth sounds hokey. All I know is having lost Mattie to cancer has opened up all sorts of possibilities to me and though we may not talk about it openly in America, you should note that the hospice and end of life care symbol is none other than the BUTTERFLY!
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