Tuesday, January 7, 2013

Tuesday, January 7, 2013 -- Mattie died 225 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in January of 2003. Mattie was nine months old and full of energy and life. Mattie was an incredible force, but that was apparent from the minute he was born. He kept all of us on our toes! Tuesdays will always remind me of the day Mattie died. Today marks week 225, which seems like forever and a day. Yet for me this is only a number, a number which really has no bearing on how significant a loss this is for Peter and me. 


Quote of the day: Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.


I was told by several friends and Peter that it was FRIGID in DC today! I have no idea, since I never left our home. Whether I got out or not isn't noteworthy, but I think the fact that many local school districts closed school today is! Maybe because I grew up in NY and also went to college in upstate NY, the notion of closing school for cold temperatures is an absolute riot! Have our bodies evolved differently in the last several decades? So much so that we can't tolerate the cold??!!! Or better yet, are our north east counterparts just hardier than us mid-Atlantic folks? After all New York and New England states do not close school for cold weather! I continue to be perplexed by the DC area and how it handles storms (storms mind you that produce an inch of snow) and now cold weather of all things. 

Last night when I got off the plane, I could feel the cold air immediately and it was like being attacked by a knife. Therefore, thankfully with my position with the Foundation, I can work where ever I am, so today I elected to stay home and was glued to the computer. I worked for nine hours straight processing all our annual fund donations. Though that was a great deal of time, it is a wonderful problem to have, it means that our supporters have once again enabled us to have a successful campaign. We are deeply grateful.  

Before I left for Los Angeles, I picked out paint colors for one of our bathrooms and our bedroom. Our faithful readers know that I spent the Fall transforming Mattie's room. It was intense work, with over 60 garbage bags full of donations to Goodwill. I think addressing Mattie's room, inspired us to continue working. But painting is hard work! I learned this from painting our first floor and Mattie's room with Peter. While I was away, Peter took on the painting without me and it was a great gift to come back and see two rooms transformed by color. Pictured here is the bathroom I used to share with Mattie. Now it is a very pleasant sunshine lemon color and the butterfly theme is being carried over here from Mattie's room. 

The second room Peter transformed is our bedroom. Like Mattie's room, this room had never been painted since we moved in years and years ago. Painting was long overdue, but Mattie kept us busy and I did not want paint fumes in our home with his young lungs. Our bedroom gets a great deal of sunlight and therefore a deep color works quite well. Keep in mind that prior to our painting, all our walls were ivory colored. But with Mattie gone, Peter and I need more color to help change our mood. I love all things Victorian, so I am in the process of giving our bedroom such a look. I love this dusty rose color and I am thrilled to see clean walls and watch the color change with different times of the day.