Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2008. What Mattie was holding in his hand was one of our two jars we had for tent moth caterpillars. Mattie would bring them home from school in a cup. He literally would find them on the playground and insisted on transporting them home in the car. He knew I hated bugs or anything that crawled. Yet I knew he had a fascination with the whole metamorphosis process. Therefore, in order to embrace his curiosity I dedicated jars for him to experiment with and we would trap the caterpillars inside with saran wrap and poke air holes in the wrap. Needless to say we perfected the technique year after year, and even learned what to feed these creatures. They despise maple leaves and only like eating oak! They also happen to be messy, which I suppose makes sense if you are constantly eating. All I know is I was always cleaning out the jar! However, once they spun their cocoons, about a week later, out would pop moths and with that we always had moth releasing ceremonies on our deck.
Quote of the day: Donors don’t give to institutions. They invest in ideas and people in whom they believe. ~ G.T. Smith
Tonight's quote resonates with me! It is ironic though because Mattie Miracle has donors who thankfully sustain and enable us to do the work that we do, and yet the Foundation in turn does not keep any of this money. Instead, we take this money and wisely contribute it to people and to places like Georgetown University Hospital which can assist children with cancer. So when I look at tonight's quote, I understand it wholeheartedly. From the perspective of the donor as well as the fundraiser.
As I say often.... I do NOT donate to institutions. In fact, institutions really do not mean much to me. It is the people within them that matter. This is who I believe must be invested in, and this maybe why at the core our donations to Georgetown are very personal. I know our donations are overseen by Linda, Mattie's child life specialist. Considering I know the effort it takes to raise this money and the support community behind us helping to generate it, I am very judicious about where and how this money is spent.
This afternoon, I took a break from my usual Walk work routine and headed to Mattie's school. I had to set up for my last kindergarten art class session scheduled for tomorrow morning. In addition, at 4pm, I was scheduled to meet with the 5th grade girl scout troop and their leaders. This is the same troop I met with in April and introduced them to Mattie Miracle with a power point presentation. The girls asked me to visit today and bring the Mattie Miracle banner to school for their podcast (basically the kids were taped and this session will broadcast to the school on Friday). They wrote a script for their performance which explained who Mattie was, what the Foundation does, information about the Walk, the fact that they were standing in front of Mattie's tree, and that May 15th would be dress orange day at school in honor of Mattie. This is something the troop got school approval for from Bob Weiman (aka, the Magic Man, the head of the lower school, who taught Mattie magic) which is lovely, because typically the children wear a uniform each day.
It was an experience watching about 12 girls give this broadcast performance and deliver this message. Each one had a part to play, either delivering lines or holding up signs to emphasize what was being said! For the most part these children did not know Mattie and I would have to say that was hard for me to grapple with, but then again, I wonder do Mattie's friends really remember him too? It is hard to say because they were so young when they knew him and their memories were really forming back then. So it is quite possible they do not remember him very well at all. Taken in total, somehow that is a sad prospect because the younger generation really is not personally touched by Mattie. They maybe through their parents, but they themselves are not truly impacted by Mattie. Somehow that realization hit me today.
I got to Mattie's school early this afternoon, because I wanted to park in the correct location to ensure that I wouldn't have to walk too far with all the art supplies I had to carry into the classroom. Where that left me was parking right next to the playground. Being that it was after school, there were children running all over the place and their caregivers weren't far behind. I remember being one of those parents and it was a surreal feeling, almost like being on the outside looking in! I knew that world and yet I also knew I was no longer a part of it. A very sobering feeling which can leave you mad and angry, sad and depressed, or all of the above. Yet somehow I have to channel all those feelings somewhere and be able to interact with the world, because there is one thing someone who is grieving quickly learns...... the world doesn't stop for you and people quickly forget or have patience for your feelings regarding a loss.
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