Tonight's picture was actually featured on the cover of our Christmas card in December of 2002. I remember capturing this moment in time like it were yesterday. Being that it was Mattie's first Christmas, I wanted the "perfect" photo! In November we had an early snowfall. So that weekend, I pulled out Mattie's entertainment saucer onto our deck and lined it with a blanket, dressed him in his santa onesie, and dawned a hat on him! Then Peter started snapping photos! I can't tell you how many photos we took of Mattie that day, with us jumping around in the background to get Mattie to look at the camera! This was the photo we chose for the card, but the others were priceless too!
Quote of the day: We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindness there is at last one which makes the heart run over. ~ Dr. Samuel Johnson
Today we boarded the Ruby Princess, in Port Everglades of
Fort Lauderdale. Our embarkation went smoothly and as always whenever Peter and
I take a cruise, we think of Mattie. We think of Mattie because Mattie LOVED
ships and boats. In fact, if you asked Mattie what he wanted to save his money
for, his likely answer would be….. “to buy a boat!” Now most adults thought he
meant a toy boat, after all he was a child! However this is NOT what Mattie
meant! Mattie wanted to buy a real life sized boat! Mattie wanted to be a boat
captain and he proudly would share this fact with others. When Mattie was
battling cancer, our cancer community arranged through the Navy for Mattie to
be a captain for a day on a special Naval ship. However by that point in his
treatment, Mattie no longer wanted to be around people and his dream to be a
Captain had died. It was a very sad day for Peter and me. There was no
convincing Mattie to try this new experience, and what I could see was that
cancer did not only change Mattie’s body but it altered his psychological
state, spirit, and will to live. It was an absolutely devastating change to
witness in any human being, much less in one’s own child.
Whenever I see a drawbridge, it also reminds me of Mattie. I
took this photo in honor of him today! Mattie was fascinated by drawbridges and
could spend hours watching them. When we visited Fort Lauderdale, he would
request that we walk up to these bridges on the half hour just to see them go
up and down and to let sail boats and other boat traffic through! Mattie would
have loved to be on the Ruby Princess with us and to have been so close to a
draw bridge!
Fort Lauderdale is a HUGE port town. In fact, during the
winter months, there are at least six cruise ships in port on Saturdays,
Sundays, and Mondays! I can’t tell you how many people that dumps into town a
day! But let me help you put this into context. We were in port today with
Royal Caribbean’s “Oasis of the Sea.” This ship holds over 8100 people! YES you
are reading this correctly; this is passengers and crew together!!! This is
ONLY ONE of the SHIPS that was in port. Then add up the number of people from
the other ships, which can hold over 3,000 people, and we are talking about a
total of 24,000 coming off the ships today and within a few hours a whole new
set of passengers boarding the ships! Rather incredible no??? It is a logistics
nightmare. Not even factoring in the movement of luggage and the reprovisioning
of these ships!!!
Peter snapped a photo of my mom and me right before sail
away!
There were two Princess ships in the Harbor this afternoon.
The “Caribbean Princess” set sail before us and Peter caught a lovely photo of
her sailing away. We sailed the Caribbean Princess last August out of
Southampton, England!
As we were sailing away, people from the water and land were
giving us quite a send off. Our ship was getting waves, hoots, howlers, and
ringing of cow bells. I have never experienced the cow bells before!!! That was
a new one! The cow bell, I am pretty sure was coming from where the bon voyage
flag was flying from the balcony of the condo.
We even were treated to pelican fly overs on our sail away!
I love pelicans! We typically see them in North Carolina and of course they
love Florida too…. since it is warm and humid.
This is my good-bye photo from Fort Lauderdale! It is the
last bit of land we see as we sailed away. We are at sea all day tomorrow. I
asked Peter tonight how Mattie would have taken to the cruise. Peter said to me
that Mattie would have loved it and would have explored every deck. I
definitely think there would be aspects of the ship Mattie would have loved and
then aspects that would have been challenging for Mattie. But then again, I am
picturing Mattie as a child, Mattie as a 6 and 7 year old, not Mattie as he
would be today….12 years old. That is NOT a Mattie I can even picture. To me,
Mattie will always be 7.
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