Tonight's picture was taken in January of 2004. If I entitled this photo, it would be "a boy on a mission!" As you can see Mattie LOVED cardboard boxes. His affection for boxes happened early in his life, before preschool, kindergarten, or his time in the hospital. In many ways we would always joke about the fact that we could buy the greatest toy for Mattie, but at the end of the day, he gravitated to a new box. Boxes that Mattie rejected, were immediately claimed by Patches, our calico cat. Mattie didn't just play with the boxes, he transformed them into things, and then incorporated them into his play scheme.
Quote of the day: Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves. ~ Horace Mann
I had planned to meet my friend Tina today for lunch. However, last night I tried to text message her to find out today's plan. I am still getting used to having an iphone and instead of texting Tina, I landed up calling her by accident. Tina immediately picked up the phone and thought there was a crisis. Those closest to me, know I have been conditioned to NOT talk on the phone. Therefore if I am calling, I typically have a problem. Last night the only problem I had was pilot error. Yet here is what I discovered, by hearing Tina's voice, I could immediately determine that she wasn't feeling well. I am not sure she would have told me this through a text message. Any case, I was happy that I found this out and could instead help Tina today put away many of her beautiful Christmas things.
You can learn a lot about a friend through his/her possessions. Tina, like me, is a sentimentalist and collects ornaments from all her travels or family adventures. So in essence her tree is not only a sight to see, but it is like a piece of family history. The other wonderful part about this is she has instilled this gift to capture family memories within her children. The next generation loves this family tradition, and I know this since I had the opportunity to chat with one of her daughter's after school. Any case, yes we may have been putting ornaments away, but it is through each ornament I got to hear more about my friend and her interests. It wasn't just a task, but through our working together our friendship grows.
In many ways, Tina is my first new friend that I developed after Mattie's death. Last year, Tina allowed me to use her house to host a surprise birthday luncheon for our mutual friend. Tina and I worked for days on setting up this party and after working a solid week together, we got to know each other's working styles quite well. The party was a success last year and we still talk about our great accomplishment together.
I can't think of a better way to get re-engaged back into the world than by helping others. It is life's greatest and most meaningful diversion. Of course not everyone is comfortable asking for help or expressing that need, but one should always keep in mind that by accepting help, you are in essence helping the giver as well.
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