Monday, August 10, 2015

Monday, August 10, 2015


Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2007. Mattie had just completed this large puzzle of King Tut at Peter's parents home in Boston. Mattie wanted to prove that he was taller than the puzzle, so he got on the floor and lined himself up with the puzzle. Of course by extending his toes and raising his arms over his head, Mattie was indeed taller than the puzzle! Proving his point! Of course to me this was a noteworthy photo. The sad part about this photo to me is that once Mattie developed cancer and had surgeries on his arms, he was NEVER able to lift his arms over his head EVER again. With the prosthetics he lost that range of motion. 



Quote of the day: No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another. ~ Charles Dickens 

This morning we went for a walk around Horn Pond. This pond is not far from where Peter's parents live, and it is a local gem where you can find people of all ages out and about enjoying a walk and the sights to be seen. The pond never disappoints! This morning we were treated to a visit by a mother swan with her signets. Mattie would have loved this sighting, since he was always intrigued by any mother with her young in tow. 

Someone who was walking around the pond stopped us to make sure we saw this wood duck. People are quite friendly around the Pond and many have an appreciation for the special place that it is. This was my first time seeing a wood duck, but I won't forget the white circle around her eye, which apparently is a distinctive marking of such a duck. 




After our walk, we took an hour long conference call with one of the professional childhood cancer associations that we are a member of. Typically we try not to work over a break, but this call was important because the Association asked us to talk about our National Psychosocial Standards of Care project. Since this project is very important to Mattie Miracle, we made time for the call. 

Later in the afternoon, we all drove into the city of Boston to see the Greenway. In 1991, after almost a decade of planning, construction began on the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, more widely known as the "Big Dig." The project, recognized as one of the largest, most complex, and technologically challenging in the history of the United States, would remove the elevated highway and create a tunnel system below the city.

With the elevated highway to be relocated underground, community and political leaders seized the opportunity to enhance the city by creating the Greenway, a linear series of parks and gardens that would re-connect some of Boston’s oldest, most diverse, and vibrant neighborhoods. 

On October 4, 2008, tens of thousands of visitors came together for the parks’ Inaugural Celebration with the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy. The Greenway encompasses gardens, plazas, and tree-lined promenades and is a key feature of the modern reinvention of Boston, the Harbor and the Waterfront.

The Greenway Carousel features 14 different characters native to the land, sea and sky of Massachusetts including a sea turtle, a cod, a peregrine falcon, a grasshopper, a harbor seal, a fox, a skunk, a whale, three types of butterflies, a barn owl, and a sea serpent. The characters were inspired by the drawings of Boston school children and fabricated by Newburyport, Massachusetts artist Jeff Briggs. There are a total of 36 seats on the Green Way Carousel, considered New England’s most accessible carousel for adults and youth with physical or auditory disabilities.

I have never seen a carousel like this, made out of animal creatures that bobbed up and down! This is a close up of my favorite carousel seat.... the butterfly!

Rowes Wharf is best known for the Boston Harbor Hotel's multi-story arch over the wide public plaza between Atlantic Avenue and the Boston Harbor waterfront. Along the waterfront can be found a marina, restaurants, a water transportation terminal, and a floating stage offering free concerts and movies during the summer.

We walked through Faneuil Hall and the Greenway and had a wonderful tour of this downtown area. At which point, we took an iced tea break and Peter's parents snapped a photo of us on the Greenway. 

This evening, Peter and I met up with my friend Jen and her husband David. I met Jen on my very first day of graduate school at Boston College. We immediately clicked with each other from that very first day. One of Jen's daughters is actually Mattie's age and in fact both Mattie and Caroline met one another when they were toddlers. They had a play date together when we visited Boston and they got along splendidly. But because of our geographic distance, I haven't seen Jen in ten years. I honestly couldn't believe this, but we recounted this tonight when we met one another. We have kept in electronic contact over the years, but as tonight did prove, there is nothing like face to face communication. At one point, Jen grabbed my hand and said she did not want to let it go because she was afraid she wouldn't see me for another ten years. I understood that feeling. It is ironic that we live in two different states and live different lives, and yet at the core the friendship that we established years ago is built on something that allows us to remain united and connected. To me this is a noteworthy gift.