Sunday, June 21, 2015

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Tonight's picture was taken on June 21, 2009, Peter's last Father's Day with Mattie. This photo was taken in the hospital's garden. We took Mattie outside for some fresh air that day and while strolling about, we passed the medical school's library. Outside the library are these huge garden stones. Mattie happened to love these stones and always wanted to take one back to his room with him each time we went out to the gardens. That day he was very insistent about taking a stone. If you knew Mattie, then you knew any time we went for a walk when he was well, he always came back from one of our adventures with either a stick or a rock. Given Mattie's battle with cancer, I figured that taking one stone would be okay, given that I knew it would make him happy. This stone remains with us today and we use it by our front door as you will see below. It is our memento of Father's Day 2009, and perhaps Mattie knew that we would need in the future this physical symbol to help us remember and capture that moment in time.


Quote of the day: A Father is neither an anchor to hold us back, nor a sail to take us there, but a guiding light whose love shows us the way. ~ Anonymous

On June 15, 2009, Mattie underwent a sternotomy to remove 9 tumors in his lungs. Four days later, Mattie decided he wanted to give Peter his Father's Day gift to Peter.... three days early! Mattie hand made this gift for Peter and he was very excited to give him the gift! I think this is noteworthy, given the fact that Mattie was recovering from a major surgery. You can see the fact that Mattie's chest was cut open in half. 

Here was a photo of the opened gift! Mattie constructed a boat for Peter out of a cardboard box! Literally there was nothing Mattie couldn't make out of a regular packing box! 

A photo of Mattie's Father's Day stone, which we still have by our front door!

Our day had a rough start, but I have come to the conclusion that Facebook has one good purpose.... it helped Peter get feedback and support today on Father's Day. Which is needed, because the worst thing about holidays for a grieving parent is to be forgotten. 

I have been so upset with Facebook, as they have shut down our Foundation's profile page, forcing our profile and fan pages to merge. But in the process of this happening, Peter established his own personal profile page in order to manage our Foundation page. But now Peter uses his personal page on Facebook to post his thoughts and feelings about Mattie. In a way, it is like his blog. Today he received many wonderful comments to the posting of the photo above, which I am very happy about, because typically people do not reach out to Peter. Mattie may not have been physically with us today...... but today, like everyday, he was remembered in our hearts and is with us in spirit and in everything we do.