Sunday, September 6, 2015

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2008. We took Mattie to New York City to be seen by an oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering. In order to start an experimental immunotherapy treatment for osteosarcoma, he had to be evaluated and start the process in New York. That afternoon we took Mattie for a tour of the city... in which he went to the Natural History Museum and FAO Schwartz. As you can see from Mattie's face, he was far from happy. 


Quote of the day: Grief fills the room up of my absent child, Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me, Puts on his pretty look, repeats his words, Remembers me of his gracious parts, Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form. ~ William Shakespeare

Peter and I went to Mattie's school today to visit his memorial tree. My faithful readers will recognize this photo which I took on Friday, when I did a drive by of the tree. This sight truly disturbed me because I wasn't expecting to see construction material on top of the base of Mattie's tree. Needless to say, I reported this to the school, and when we went to visit the tree today, there was nothing surrounding it. All the items had been cleared away.  

So in essence this is my "before" photo of the tree. 

We brought with us tulip and crocus bulbs, topsoil, and mulch. Every Fall we plant bulbs around the base of the tree and mulch it to protect it. It makes this tree really stand out from the others on the property and during the spring when the bulbs bloom, you can't help but notice this tree. 

Not to mention that the tree is always decorated. Which catches the children's attention. 

In honor of Mattie's sixth anniversary this Tuesday, Peter and I went today to decorate the tree. Mattie's school starts on Tuesday, the day after Labor Day. Rather ironic, since six years ago, Mattie died on a Tuesday (the first day of school in 2009). Now six years later it is as if we are reliving that Tuesday all over again. 

Around the tree we tied plastic sunflowers (a very symbolic flower to me, since this is the flower our care community gave me throughout Mattie's battle, and therefore to me they represent support, compassion, and love), and golden color bows in honor of childhood cancer awareness month. 

In addition, we hung gold colored spiders on the tree. Like the one you see here! Mattie loved all sorts of creepy crawling things, and when we saw these spiders at the craft store, we knew this would be a perfect addition to the tree this September.