Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2009. This was at Mattie's second party that was held for him in honor of his seventh birthday. Mattie was in the hospital for his actual 7th birthday, but my friend Christine hosted a party for Mattie with many of his friends in her backyard. Christine arranged for Reptiles Alive to come and entertain the children at the party. This was right up Mattie's alley because the company brought all sorts of creatures that intrigued him and absolutely freaked me out. This big snake was case in point! I absolutely despise snakes and yet Mattie couldn't wait to touch it! This became the running joke, so much so that Mattie's buddy, Jocelyn (who unfortunately died from osteosarcoma in April of 2014) gave Mattie a wonderful albino boa constrictor stuff animal as a gift after seeing photos from this party! Mattie named this stuffed animal "Sunshine." Sunshine still sits on Mattie's bed today. Every day when I see Sunshine, I think of Mattie, Jocelyn, and this birthday party.
Quote of the day: Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. ~ Helen Keller
Peter had the day off from work. Or I should I say from his first job. Meanwhile, he devoted the day helping me with his second job, which is the Foundation. We are in the process of redesigning the Foundation's webpage. That is a very large undertaking considering the last time Peter created our webpage was when we incorporated over five years ago. The Foundation has undergone a major transformation since that point, in which we have accomplished a great deal, and unfortunately the platform we used to develop the old webpage was antiquated and just impossible for me to figure out how to maintain and keep current. So our current webpage is not a viable source of information about us, which has been making me frustrated for the past several years. Now we are actively addressing this, but this takes time, attention to detail and patience.
Keller's quote resonated with me tonight because there is no way I can develop this site on my own. I really do need the teamwork and collaborative brain power of working with Peter. We can accomplish much more this way and produce a better product.
In the midst of working all day today, we received a surprise email from Liza. Liza was one of Mattie's favorite child life volunteers at Georgetown University Hospital. We haven't heard from Liza since Mattie died. So that is almost six years ago! She asked us if we still remembered her?! Which is funny, because Liza has this adorable voice like Glinda the good witch from the Wizard of Oz. She is unforgettable for that and for many other reasons. Liza lives out of state now but she is visiting DC this weekend and wants to see us tomorrow. She is going to medical school and she contributes this in part to her time with Mattie. I look forward to reconnecting with her. Mattie touched many people's lives and transformed them, and in turn they decided to become medical professionals. I think that is a very meaningful thing for a mom to hear and I look forward to learning more tomorrow. That is a fourth of July surprise I wasn't expecting.
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