Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2009. Mattie was just admitted to the hospital (I can tell because he was wearing real clothes, whereas when he was inpatient, Mattie only wanted to wear Pajamas!) and was participating in a physical therapy session in the hallway. Mattie's physical therapist, Anna, understood that to motivate Mattie to use his body, he would need lots of activities. Over the time they worked together, I would have to say that Mattie benefited from his time with Anna, but I would also say that Anna learned from Mattie. Mattie forced everyone he worked with to think outside the box and to be creative. Anna is a great therapist and rose to the challenge and became a trusted member of our care team.
Quote of the day: To rejoice in another's prosperity is to give content to your lot; to mitigate another's grief is to alleviate or dispel your own. ~ Tryon Edwards
The WTOP Click-For-A-Cause Contest ends tomorrow at 5pm! Have you voted? We need your help in this final push to tell your your friends and family about this contest and to vote.
Currently the top three charities are: 1) Lab Rescue of the LRCP (which assists abandoned Labrador Retrievers), 2) Patriot Appreciation (which provides support to veterans and their families), and 3) Homeward Trails Animal Rescue (rescues dogs and cats from high-kill animal shelters).
Please help us bring awareness to the life alternating diagnosis of childhood cancer for children and their families.
To vote, go to: http://wtop.com/contests/click-for-a-cause-voting/?char=m
I was running around doing chores today for tomorrow's check signing and new food cart launch at the hospital. While out, I met a friend for lunch. Several times during our lunch fellow moms from the community came by to say hello to my friend. It wasn't like this was planned, it was happenstance, that we should all be at the same place at one time. Though I have learned if you are in Alexandria City, the likelihood of bumping into someone you know is HIGH, unlike living in DC.
In any case, coming off a week of childhood cancer events, I am already hypersensitive to my environment, but the way these moms made me feel didn't sit right. Of course this is my interpretation, after all it is possible they would have reacted to me exactly the same way even if I had a child. But while they were talking to my friend today, they made me feel invisible, as if I did not matter, or had anything to contribute to what they were saying. Which for the most part is true.... they were talking about their children's sports teams, schools, and so forth. It is correct, I have nothing to add to any of that! As I listened to all of them talk, I couldn't help but wonder what they would be talking about if cancer was in their lives and they had lost a child to cancer. I am quite sure the dialogue would be different. Of course, the way it goes in our society is I need to listen to their dialogue and woes, but the listening doesn't go both ways!
I was running around doing chores today for tomorrow's check signing and new food cart launch at the hospital. While out, I met a friend for lunch. Several times during our lunch fellow moms from the community came by to say hello to my friend. It wasn't like this was planned, it was happenstance, that we should all be at the same place at one time. Though I have learned if you are in Alexandria City, the likelihood of bumping into someone you know is HIGH, unlike living in DC.
In any case, coming off a week of childhood cancer events, I am already hypersensitive to my environment, but the way these moms made me feel didn't sit right. Of course this is my interpretation, after all it is possible they would have reacted to me exactly the same way even if I had a child. But while they were talking to my friend today, they made me feel invisible, as if I did not matter, or had anything to contribute to what they were saying. Which for the most part is true.... they were talking about their children's sports teams, schools, and so forth. It is correct, I have nothing to add to any of that! As I listened to all of them talk, I couldn't help but wonder what they would be talking about if cancer was in their lives and they had lost a child to cancer. I am quite sure the dialogue would be different. Of course, the way it goes in our society is I need to listen to their dialogue and woes, but the listening doesn't go both ways!
When I got home, I spent some time frosting
cupcakes that I baked this morning for tomorrow's check signing party. It may
look like a nice treat, but to me this is a symbolic and meaningful gesture. For a good part
of Mattie's cancer battle, he lived on the cupcakes I baked. He loved them, and I
used to give them to him as incentives for him participating in his physical
therapy sessions. Now that Mattie is gone from our lives, I still bake cupcakes
for our check signing parties, which occur EVERY September at the hospital. We select September because it was the month that Mattie died, and it happens to coincide with childhood cancer awareness month.
While frosting cupcakes, I heard a song with the title, "I'll See you Again" playing on Pandora. As I was listening to the lyrics, I felt as if the song was meant for me to hear and at this exact moment.... because the premise of the song is about the loss of a loved one and that he maybe gone but not forgotten. I frankly did not know what the actual title of the song was or who sang it, so after some google searches, I found it below. I hope this song resonates with you as much as it did with me.
I'll See you Again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G57JH_Sk9Ws
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