Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2006. Mattie was four years old and was outside with me on our deck. I was out there watering our plants. But if you look closely, look who was also soaked! Mattie loved going outside and always requested to be sprayed with the hose. So I literally as watering the plants and Mattie!
Quote of the day: Spring drew on...and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thought that Hope traversed them at night, and left each morning brighter traces of her steps. ~ Charlotte Brontë
Every Fall we plant bulbs around the tree. We plant crocus, daffodil, and tulip bulbs. The beauty of this is all three flowers bloom at different times. So literally the tree has flowers around it for a good part of the Spring. There are many wonderful trees on the campus, but Mattie's tree is the only one decorated and with flowers around its base.
It is a very surreal feeling to be visiting the tree and to be surrounded by kindergarten students playing on the playground. In my mind, Mattie will always be a kindergarten student. Despite the fact that he would be in 8th grade now if he were alive. In some ways, I am caught in time, and in my time zone Mattie is forever 7. As the children were running and playing all around me today, it left me wondering of course why did Mattie get cancer and die? The profound feelings Peter and I live with, parents of healthy children can't possible grasp. Which is a good thing, but none the less, it does add to the isolation. For the children running passed me, this tree is just a pretty tree, whereas to me, it is much more. Yet we both co-exist and experience the same tree, but maybe in different ways.
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