Sunday, September 27, 2015

Sunday, September 27, 2015


Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2008. Mattie was in his second month of chemotherapy and clearly he was in between treatments since he was home. Time at home never lasted long, since the chemotherapy would compromise Mattie's immunity so much that he would get raging fevers and neutropenia and therefore would have to be rushed back for a hospital admission. As you can see, we had a family cat named Patches. In the beginning we tried to find a way to care for her while managing Mattie's treatment. However, we realized soon enough that we had to board Patches at our vet. Patches had her own medical issues that required that she be given medication two times a day. It was hard to board Patches at the vet for over a year, but we knew they loved her, would allow her out of her cage, and would monitor her health and medication. Mattie and Patches had an understanding with each other. Patches knew something wasn't right with Mattie and would stick close to him and even sit on his bed to keep him company. The first year after Mattie died, it wasn't only Peter and I who were out of sorts and traumatized, so was Patches. She spent a lot of time in Mattie's room, close to his things, and if a cat could look depressed, she was. 


Quote of the day: The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. ~ Mitch Albom

Peter and I have been working this week and particularly this weekend to get our deck back in shape after three weeks of reconstruction on the brick walls. I am thrilled to have the scaffolding off our deck and to bring all our plants and flowers back to our space. Everything on our deck was safely secured in another location for three weeks and our deck looked barren and filled with dust. I wish I could say the construction is over. It isn't! The scaffolding remains outside our deck door, as they are still working on the brick. Yet reclaiming our space is delightful!

Later this afternoon, we went by to visit and water Mattie's tree. As you can see, the tree and its remembrance decorations are intact and looking good. We tried to visit the space on a Sunday, with hopes that less children and families would be around. But since the tree is on the school's playground, it is a popular destination on the weekends. There were many children and families by or in the sand box (which is to the right of the tree) and on the swings. Naturally that is how it should be for them, but it doesn't make it easy to visit and reflect peacefully by Mattie's tree.