Tonight's picture was taken on July 23, 2009. That was Mattie's one year anniversary of his cancer diagnosis. He was in clinic that day sandwiched between Peter and his buddy Brandon. In Brandon's hand was a boat they made. It was a summer of boat races within the clinic sink. If I am not mistaken, this was the day Peter remembers in which all of Jocelyn's sisters got together for the famous boat racing competition! I have now answered my own question about whether I was there or not! The beauty of the blog, or I should say, thank goodness for the Blog. Brandon and Jocelyn brought Mattie much happiness, as only good friends can do.
Quote of the day: Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. ~ Kevin Arnold
While Peter and I were at the Columbus airport today we made two significant observations about our trip. Mind you we were only gone for two days. Columbus is unlike any city I have ever been to. I suppose I am used to cities on the East and West coasts. Basically large cities, but in addition to their size, their demeanor also comes into question. They are frenetic. People are everywhere, there is a level of busyness, a density, a congestion, a lack of peacefulness and personal space! I am not saying I like that, I am just saying I am conditioned to it! When you walk or look at the streets of Columbus, the first thing we as East coasters would say is, "where are ALL the people?" To us the streets look desolate even during the middle of a work day! But that is the thing!!! They aren't really desolate, there is just more SPACE! There isn't the same congestion, the same frenzy, and chaos. This same lovely pace carried over into the airport of ALL places! Can you believe this? In the Washington, DC area, and all major East coast cities, our airports are zoos! Packed with people. Not Columbus. The hallways and corridors are wide, people wait their turn and are courteous. It was a night and day difference. As soon as I stepped off the plane into Washington National airport, it was like walking into a sea of people, congestion as far as the eye could see. I enjoyed that aspect of Columbus a great deal and as I said to Peter, you have to leave DC to explore other states to see just how different our region of the Country is.
The other observation had nothing to do with Ohio, but with the Association of Pediatric Hematology Oncology Educational Specialists (APHOES). APHOES is the organization that invited us to give a keynote address at their conference. We spent a good portion of the day yesterday with the executive leadership of the association, attended over 5 sessions, and was even invited out to dinner by many of the key players of the organization. That really meant a lot to us and also said a lot to me about how inclusive a group this is, after all, attending conferences is not something NEW to me. I have been doing this all my professional life and can size up groups and people very quickly. This group really was collaborative, embraced and supported what we are doing, and is inspired to find ways for us to work together. But here is the observation, the observation is at the core these professionals are all educators. I have been around educators all my life, since my mom was a teacher. Educators are professionals I probably most align with. Educators speak a certain language, they have multiple interests, can converse on multiple topics, are usually engaging, and if all else fails are passionate about who they are teaching and serving. This was most definitely the case with all of the individuals we interacted with yesterday and this kind of interaction can be very stimulating, as I know it was for both Peter and me.
No comments:
Post a Comment