Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2007. The same month Mattie began kindergarten. Mattie had overcome many other issues prior to kindergarten, but thanks to early interventions with speech and occupational therapy, these issues were not discernible. Mattie loved going out with Peter on the weekends to row on the Potomac River. Mattie enjoyed being on the water, fishing, and having this special time with his dad. On occasion, like in this photo, they invited me along. 


Quote of the day: The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure very much. ~ William Hazlitt

I think Indie, our cat, is truly confused. I came home last night and was unpacking, and while I was doing that, Peter was packing. Peter had a business trip to Nebraska today. 

I received a few photos along Peter's journey. This was one of the signs at the Nebraska airport. I love Peter's description of flying to the Midwest. Mainly because when you fly to either the West or East coast, there are NO conversations between strangers on the plane. 

That is definitely not the case flying to the Midwest. On every flight to the Midwest that Peter has been on, people are talking to each other. They strike up conversations with him and typically the chatting lasts the entire flight. Sounds wonderful to me, and a night and day experience from what I'm used to. 

Despite the heat and humidity that Washington, DC has been dealing with while I was gone, our garden looks good. Only because Peter watered. 

Check out this beautiful Gerber daisy. Another favorite of mine. 

I love my petunias. Peter isn't a petunia fan, but he puts up with them. 

Peter's roses are bursting out all over! They truly brighten up our wall. 

In the midst of cleaning up our garden today, I ran into a neighbor. This neighbor is aware of Mattie's death. She asked me how I was doing and I basically said "the same." I have different answers depending upon my mood and who I am dealing with. She did not like the response.... the same, and instead started questioning it and trying to set me straight. She was pontificating about how special each day is and therefore each day can't be the same. In theory I knew what she meant, but she clearly did not know what I meant. But because she was pressing the issue, I just gave it to her. Though I am grateful for certain things and to have each day, others do need to know that there are times when parents who lost a child to cancer can't be happy. That aspects of this loss cloud every detail and essence of life. She changed her tune after I started to elaborate. Overall September is a challenging month. It signifies when children go back to school. Naturally, that doesn't apply to us anymore. September is also the month that Mattie died. Which is bad enough, but then to top it off, September is also national childhood cancer awareness month. It is just a lot to absorb, especially coming off of the summer (a time period that screams out family).