Friday, December 26, 2014

Friday, December 26, 2014

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2002. Mattie was 8 months old. Being that it was his first Christmas, he had no idea what was going on but it was clear that he was fascinated by the tree and the lights! 
Of course for us, just like any parent, we always thought we would have many Christmases together. 

Quote of the day: We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. ~ Charlie Chaplin

We are all safely in Fort Lauderdale tonight. Unfortunately though warm, it was grey and raining the whole day! Despite that, we made the best of the afternoon. We had a late lunch at the Chart House, which is right on the Intercoastal. It is a beautiful setting and filled with wonderful memories for us. I did not take this photo, I downloaded it from the Internet, since today's weather was grey, overcast, and raining! To give you a feeling for what it looks like in better weather, I downloaded a prettier photo! When we used to visit Fort Lauderdale when Mattie was a toddler and preschooler, we would take him to this exact restaurant. Mattie loved it because there were always boats passing by and lots of bird traffic! So of course none of us could be there without pausing to reflect on Mattie and his presence with us. 

In fact, THOUGH WE SAW NO SYMBOLS OF MATTIE IN OUR LIFE on Christmas day, we saw plenty today!!! It started with pennies on the ground at the airport!!! Mattie loved pennies! My parents started a tradition with Mattie of collecting pennies. Pennies left by the "Penny Fairy." However, I would have to say that Mattie was stellar in general with finding MONEY! In fact he was known to dive behind store clerk's in the grocery store to retrieve unclaimed change on the floor of the store! But it wasn't only change, he was good at finding dollar bills and even a $5 bill on occasion!!! So when we saw change on the ground of the airport, we took that as signs from Mattie! Which I felt good about, because I felt like we did not not visually connect yesterday. 

After we ate tonight, my mom snapped a photo of Peter and me!

Peter snapped a photo of my mom and me!

Our evening ended with one of the drawbridges over the Intercoastal going up to let a boat through. Therefore when this happens, ALL traffic stops. To me this was also another Mattie sign! Mattie LOVED these drawbridges! In fact when we stayed in Fort Lauderdale years ago, we would walk up to these bridges on the bottom of the hour, to catch one of them going up! Mattie wanted to watch the process, he loved to see the cars stop, the bridge go up mechanically, boats go through, and then the bridge go back down again! Of course years later, though Mattie is no longer alive or with us, the thrill of seeing these bridges remains alive within me. Mattie shared that passion with me, I am sharing that memory with you, and maybe the next time you see a drawbridge... you too will think of Mattie!