Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - Mattie died 255 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken on July 29 of 2008. Six days after Mattie was diagnosed with cancer. That day we took Mattie to Roosevelt Island. As you can see he was playing by the water and in the sandy dirt. We even brought with us his battery powered boat! Typically we wouldn't float that boat in the Potomac River, but after Mattie was diagnosed with cancer, there were a lot of FIRSTS for us!

Quote of the day: Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.  ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne


Many years ago, when I first met my friend Ann, she introduced me to her cousin, JP. JP is older than I am, he lives in Massachusetts, and to some people he may seem to stand out as being a bit different. Specifically as having a special need. Each summer he spends several weeks visiting Ann. Their tradition together and something JP looks forward to. Mattie went to a preschool that embraced differences and therefore a percentage of children with special needs were integrated into each of the preschool classrooms. Based on my experiences with these children, raising Mattie, and my own clinical experiences I have found that individuals with special needs tend to be very perceptive and extremely sensitive to the world around them. They also tend to know who they can and can't trust, who is making fun of them, respects them, and truly wants to spend time with them. You may think these are EASY skills, but I know many adults would misread these CUES all the time in the world around them constantly!!!

I had the wonderful opportunity to have lunch with JP today and we spent part of the afternoon together gardening. The refreshing part about JP is he appreciates time you spend with him and he has no problem telling you that this time with him makes him happy! WOW, when do we say such simple and yet meaningful statements to each other? We could all learn a few things!!!  

When I got home from my meaningful afternoon, I received another meaningful message! My friend Mary Ann had called me to tell me she had an unusual butterfly encounter! So now I have nicknamed her the "butterfly whisperer!" She was at her neighborhood pool today and when she got out of the pool she was greeted by a butterfly that looked like the one in the photo. I looked this fellow up and found out he is a Spicebush Swallowtail! This swallowtail landed on her leg and sat there for several minutes, while she chatted with him. She told the butterfly about Peter and I and how we missed Mattie and I swear if this butterfly could have talked back with its wings, it did! It continued to sit there and flutter away and the reason I know this was Mary Ann called me while some of this was occurring. I was getting live playback! Mary Ann was wearing orange today, a Mattie Miracle color, and some how it seemed very symbolic that a butterfly, a symbol I associate with Mattie would be attracted to something orange (a Mattie Miracle color) and this all should happen around the anniversary of Mattie's diagnosis! Then again Mary Ann and I always look for signs in nature! Either case, I am so happy my butterfly whisperer shared her message with me today! I accept all flutterbys from Mattie and how nice that it is also on a Tuesday (the day of the week that Mattie died)!