Tonight's picture was taken on April 4 of 2009. This was Mattie's 7th and last birthday. Next to Mattie was Meg. Meg was the last child life intern we experienced at Georgetown. Meg is a force, not unlike Mattie and she could hold her own with Mattie. Mattie gravitated to Meg immediately and I suspect Meg was given a heads up about Mattie, that he was one of Georgetown's more challenging little patients. That would be daunting to most new interns, but that did not seem to intimidate Meg (at least on the surface). She rose to the challenge. That day, she took Mattie into the child life play room and helped him decorate the room for his birthday party. I will never forget that room. I returned to this room today with eight high school girls to host an Easter Egg hunt for children and their siblings within the hospital. Some how whenever I enter this room, I am reminded of all the good, bad, happy, and tremendously sad moments within the hospital.
Quote of the day: Even the smallest act of caring for another person is like a drop of water -it will make ripples throughout the entire pond... ~ Jessy and Bryan Matteo
I had the opportunity today to give the girls a brief overview of Mattie Miracle. Several of the girls are interested in working in hospitals. They also had the opportunity to tour the peds floor, and to hear about the child life profession and to ask both Katie and Jess (two child life professionals) questions about their career, its requirements, and the nature and complexities of their job.
Children confined to their rooms were brought baskets filled with eggs. Though they were unable to participate in the event, they were not forgotten. The high school girls were escorted by Jess from room to room to drop off baskets to the oncology patients.
When I left Georgetown today, I was certainly happy that we could make these children feel special! But I would say, I definitely felt off. I was off because so many of the wonderful faces of people I once knew and loved no longer work at the Hospital. To me this is another loss, with each person leaving, a piece of Mattie is taken. All that is left is four walls, a ceiling, and a floor. I find this greatly upsetting.
This evening, Peter and I had the opportunity to attend a community gathering in honor of our April item drive. This gathering was held by our new friend and supporter, Linda. I became connected to Linda, through my friend Christine. Linda suffered a loss of a colleague at work a few months ago, and when she suffered that loss, she connected with me and made a very generous donation to the Foundation. From that one donation, our friendship has evolved. Not because of the contribution, but because we take the time to emotionally want to connect with each other, learn about the other, and we enjoy all our email exchanges. Tonight was the first time I got to meet Linda face to face. Isn't it ironic, how you write to someone often and then you get to meet in person, and you feel like you know them already?! Peter and I are grateful that Christine connected us, we are honored that Linda reached out to us, and are very moved that her friends and neighbors would bring us items and toiletries to stock our snack/item cart at the Hospital.
Linda gave me the opportunity to tell her neighbors and friends about Mattie Miracle and I also explained to them where their items would be going and how they would be used at the Hospital. Putting this into context helps otherwise the drive seems meaningless. But what struck both Peter and me, is this is one special community. These folks get together like this either weekly, but certainly monthly! I am not sure how they manage this, but they do! Socializing and being neighborly are important to them. Very different from our experiences in DC. Check out this adorable Bunny Cake! He was a red velvet cake!
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