Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2003. Mattie was 15 months old and in North Carolina for the first time exploring the beach and lighthouses with us. The beach was a scary notion for Mattie. He did not like the sound of the crashing waves nor did he care for the sand. He found the heat and texture of the sand just awful on his feet and therefore really refused to go onto the beach after his first day's visit. But I loved lighthouses and therefore wanted to introduce Mattie to them early on in his life. Which we did, and despite the heat, Mattie climbed up Corolla's Lighthouse on Peter's back (in a backpack). Pictured behind Mattie and me is Bodie Light, which is another lighthouse in the Outer Banks..... one that wasn't opened to visitors back then, but is now opened for people to climb to the top!
Quote of day: Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival. ~ C.S. Lewis
One of our supporter's has a child, Garrett, who graduated from Westminster and that is how we got connected to this School. In fact, Garrett's sister and Mattie went to preschool together. So in many ways the connections we made in preschool, remain with us today, and it all started in Margaret's classroom. As I used to joke with Margaret all the time..... it wasn't only Mattie who made friends in preschool. Because for many of us moms, Margaret's classroom was very important for us. It set the right tone and environment for all of us to network with one another. A connection that remains ten years later! In a way it is hard to accept that these connections have outlived Mattie and Margaret.
In the collection I picked up today are the following items:
93 toothbrushes
67 toothpastes
312 k-cups
38 boxes of band-aids
24 deodorants
36 shampoos
20 conditioners
42 lotions
13 dental flosses
6 hand sanitizers
12 body washes
10 mouthwashes
21 bars of soap
9 travel packs
We thank the Westminster School, because I know these items will make many in-patient families caring for their children who have long-term, chronic, and/or life threatening illnesses very happy to receive them. In many cases, when rushing to take a child to the hospital, a family member forgets one of the items listed above! Therefore, having access to these items for free is a special gift, it makes people feel cared about, when their family is in crisis.
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