Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Tuesday, November 26, 2013 -- Mattie died 219 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in November of 2006. Mattie was like a ball of fire in so many ways, it was hard to get him to sit still and take a photo. But that never stopped me. Mattie got used to me after awhile and realized the camera was just going to be a part of our daily existence. Now looking back on all of this, I am so glad that I was insistent on capturing certain moments in time. Photos are all we have left now and in many ways I chronicled Mattie's life from birth to death. That wasn't my intention at the time but I can't even imagine where we would be today without these photos.


Quote of the day: Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretense. ~ Marcus Aurelius

I started my day by going to zumba class. Myself and the teacher were the only ones who showed up for class. Everyone else was most likely preparing or traveling for Thanksgiving. As I told Jenny (my teacher), it doesn't even feel like Thanksgiving to me. Each day is one in the same for me, the only difference of course is the outside temperature. There were torrential rains in the DC area today and there were workmen fixing the roof of the dance studio, so literally we were unable to have class. So instead Jenny and I went down the block for tea. As some of my faithful readers may recall, Jenny's daughter and Mattie were in the same kindergarten class together. So Jenny and I go back a while. Meaning she is more than just my dance teacher. I think tonight's quote is so applicable to my morning. Jenny is a mom of two and her kids are out of school as of tomorrow, yet instead of canceling class and running to the next task, we instead stopped to sit and chat together. That may not mean a lot to others, but the gift of someone's time means a great deal to me. In fact, it is better than any gift one could buy me.

Later in the afternoon, I went to Peter's office to meet with one of his colleagues who is a social media guru. She sat with me for 90 minutes and helped me understand Twitter and how to us it. Mattie Miracle has a Twitter account and Peter currently maintains it. But since Peter works full time, it is hard for him to juggle things during the workday. Therefore, I have to get smart on technology.
 
Any case, I haven't visited Peter's office in quite some time! I remember taking Mattie a couple of times to visit Peter and I know how much they both enjoyed those moments. I thoroughly enjoyed all of Peter's shelves and nick knacks that he has on display. It was like a walk down memory lane because some of Mattie's art work I didn't remember until I saw it. This canvas designed by Mattie was a painting of him and Peter together. Peter is the one with the glasses! But Mattie's telltale signs are ALL there...... the sun, a blue sky, and ground! The rocks and coral were all collected by Mattie, and the other items are Foundation items.

I personally forgot about Mattie's pumpkins and this teamwork clock was a gift that I gave out to all my association board members back in the summer of 2008, when I became the president of a national association. Again, another thing I forgot until I visited Peter's office.

This spider plant is an offshoot of a much larger spider plant we have at home. However, my spider plant became infected and therefore this is the only remaining piece of it left. Why is this noteworthy? Well it is noteworthy because I found the mother spider plant at Boston College years ago while in graduate school. The mother spider plant has been with me all these years, until recently. I was so happy to see this spider baby alive today. Even more meaningful is the pot. Mattie painted this flower pot in preschool for Mother's Day! So this would have been Mother's Day of 2006. Notice the butterfly stick inside of it, in which his teacher wrote on it..... Mattie Moon!

The final photo of Peter's office that I will share with you tonight is this Mattie sign. When Peter started working for his current company, we made this sign for him. As you can see it was on October 24 of 2005. I had no idea that Peter kept the sign and that it is on the back of his office door!

I thought I was going to learn about Twitter today, but in addition to that, I got to experience Mattie in a whole new way! A way that Peter sees each day.