Sunday, June 26, 2016

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2002, at Mattie's baptism.  Mattie was baptized by Father Jim Greenfield. I met Jim when I was in graduate school at the George Washington University. Jim has been a part of milestone moments with me...... he gave me my first clinical client, he gave Peter and I pre-cana so we could marry in the Catholic church, he baptized Mattie, and also presided over Mattie's funeral. What I love about this photo was Jim's finger up in the air, to signal "the first time." Jim let our family and friends know that in all his years baptizing babies, Mattie was the first who did not cry when water was poured over his head. Mattie instead smiled. In so many ways, Mattie was an unusual child. It started from the moment he was born. He was ALWAYS very on, engaged, and some would say demanding. But now that we know Mattie had cancer and then died at the age of 7, I believe that Mattie knew his life on earth was going to be short. Therefore, he had to accomplish a lot in a short period of time. Matthew means "a gift from God," and I do believe Mattie was here to do God's work. 


Quote of the day: Each time the world needs an extra touch of love and gentle caring, God creates Godparents. ~ unknown

This afternoon we headed to a church in Arlington, VA, Our Lady Queen of Peace, to attend the baptism of Charlotte. Charlotte's parents asked Peter and I to serve as Charlotte's Godparents. Certainly we are familiar with this process and are even the Godparents for our niece. But we never had friends ask us to serve this important role. 

I would like to think we had our hand in even naming Charlotte. When Peter and I were visiting St. Thomas in December of 2015, we posted a photo from the capital city of the Island.... Charlotte Amalie. Charlotte's parents loved the name of the town and decided when they had their daughter a few months later, she would be called Charlotte Amalie. 

From left to right are:

Gladys (Charlotte's grandmother), Koseth (Charlotte's mom), Cesar (Charlotte's dad), Vicki and Peter

What I should mention is the entire mass and baptism was in Spanish. This was a true cultural experience for us! Fortunately we are familiar with the nature of the Catholic mass, but honestly even so, things were done differently here. It was far more lively and a ton of music throughout the mass. Much more so than in a typical Catholic mass. 

The priest was a charmer. In his 80's and from Boston. However, he served for years in Bolivia and Peru and speaks Spanish like a native. He has a real following at this church. Peter and I tried to follow along as best we could and of course whether in Spanish or English, the baptism process is the same. 

For a good portion of the mass, Charlotte sat on my lap and between Peter and I, we were entertaining her. We learned from the master.... Mattie! Charlotte is a very well behaved baby and was really engaged with her surroundings. But naturally the experience brought us both back in time when Mattie was a baby, when he was baptized and we thought we had a whole life time ahead with each other. It makes NO SENSE to me why some children are selected to have cancer and die and others lead happy and healthy lives. I think I am completely jaded because unlike other people unaffected by childhood cancer, I no longer look at marriages, having a baby, and other happy childhood events the same way! To me I now look at them with the lens of.... you better enjoy this moment, because you are not guaranteed happiness or good fortune in life despite how hard you work, how "good" you may be, or how you feel you have control over your destiny.