Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2007. This is one of my favorite photos I ever took of Mattie. It was taken at Butler's Orchard in Maryland. We took Mattie one weekend to Pumpkinville, to pick his own pumpkins off the vine. As you can see Mattie picked a beauty and I captured that moment in time. Ironically today we attended a national childhood cancer event on the National Mall in Washington, DC. At the event, I wore an awareness ribbon and a big picture button of Mattie, that featured this photo. At the event, I had to go into the Air and Space Museum to use the restroom. In order to enter the museum, you need to go through security and a metal detector. As soon as the security man saw my Mattie button, he announced that I was wearing the photo of a beautiful child. I in two minutes told him about Mattie's story and that I was attending a childhood cancer rally right outside the museum. I have to say he handled it VERY WELL! Better than most people I know. I would have to say that this happenstance interaction may have been one of my MOST memorable moments of today!!! Sometimes you can feel when someone gets the magnitude of what you are saying, without them having to say much. He was that kind of person!
Quote of the day: At some of the darkest moments in my life, some people I thought of as friends deserted me-some because they cared about me and it hurt them to see me in pain; others because I reminded them of their own vulnerability, and that was more than they could handle. But real friends overcame their discomfort and came to sit with me. If they had not words to make me feel better, they sat in silence (much better than saying, "You'll get over it," or "It's not so bad; others have it worse") and I loved them for it. ~ Harold Kushner
on Facebook, as she follows our postings faithfully and always has incredible insights and compassion to share with us. Margy is a play therapist by training and has helped hundreds of families over the course of her career. The beautiful part about Margy is she understands the importance of psychosocial support and that this support shouldn't end when the family's relationship with the hospital does. It was wonderful to put a face with a name today!
Pictured left to right: Ken (Margy's husband), Margy, Lerin, Vicki, Abbie, and Helen
The young girl featured with us is named Victoria. Victoria is working with Ilona as an intern. One of the wonderful attractions at their tent was this adorable R2D2 from Star Wars. It was a very popular stop for young and old alike, and even dogs got a kick of the sounds it made.
So I already told you about my chance encounter with a security guard at the museum. But another and unexpected moment occurred while I was at the event. I was crossing the field to come back to my tent, and I saw a dad that I know (he too lost his son to cancer) standing in the middle of the field all by himself and crying. Not just a tear or two, but sobbing. As I approached him, I saw that NO ONE was paying a bit of attention to him or giving him the time of day. Mind you we were at a childhood cancer event where the attendees are mostly families touched by cancer. So the fact that no one stopped to talked to him, further stunned me. I must admit, my first reaction was to to pass him by, which is what I did and figured he needed to be by himself. But as I almost got to my tent, I turned around and he was still distraught. So I headed right back to him. I literally said to him that I came over because I thought he could use a hug. Which is what I did and he freely accepted it. Now that could have been the end of the encounter, but it wasn't. Instead, I was able to learn more about this dad's true feelings about grief. Feelings that I relate to wholeheartedly. However, these are feelings many people aren't courageous enough to admit to. So though I went back to offer my support to this man, what happened was we shared a meeting of the minds and hearts and to me that was one of the most powerful experiences of the day.
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