Friday, September 30, 2016

Friday, September 30, 2016

Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2003. Mattie was a year and a half old and began fully walking at 16 months. So by this point in time, Mattie occasionally held onto things around our home to walk. Mattie loved our wrought iron plant stand. He would put things on the shelves and also play with them there. It is somewhat ironic I think that this plant stand still sits in our living room. However, it no longer holds plants. It is our memory stand filled with Mattie items. It contains lego structures, angels, a lot of Mattie's pottery creations, shells, and an Indiana Jone's hat Mattie received from a friend (and liked a lot!). 


Quote of the day: No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave. ~ Calvin Coolidge

For the past two days, we have been in Indianapolis, IN at the 40th annual Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses (APHON) Conference. APHON invited us to the conference, gave us an award, and paid our way to attend. Which was very generous of the Association. APHON was the FIRST professional organization to endorse the national Psychosocial Standards of Care for Children with Cancer and their Families. 

APHON has around 3,600 members, of which 800 attended the conference. APHON's colors are purple and orange, which is why you see the room glowing in purple. Purple represents purpose and orange represents healing.

 A photo of Peter before the awards luncheon. 

Peter and I were pictured with Jami Gattuso (APHON's past president) and Kathy Kelly (Nurse Scientist, Department of Nursing Research and Quality Outcomes at Children's National Medical Center and Mattie Miracle Core Psychosocial Team Member of the Standards Project)

We were given this plaque for our outstanding loyalty and dedication to the psychosocial issues and concerns of nurses, childhood cancer patients, and their families!

In front of the exhibit hall. The Indianapolis convention center is HUGE! Actually enormous is probably a better word. It feels like you could walk miles in there and they are able to host multiple conferences at one time!

These are the thunder heads we flew home in. In a matter of two days, I have been on four flights. I am happy to be back on solid ground. We could have taken a direct flight to Indianapolis, but that would have meant being on a small plane. Thank goodness that wasn't the option Peter selected because I would have felt every bump in a small plane. It took us longer, but I felt safer. 

It looks prettier now than when I saw it in the sky. 

Clouds everywhere! Meanwhile when we arrived home, our friend Heidi picked us up at the airport with Sunny in the car. Sunny seemed stunned to see us. As soon as we got him home, he was thrilled to see us. Wanted about 45 minutes of petting, and then ate two bowls of food for me. Apparently Sunny was refusing food while we were away, and this boy LIKES to eat. So I imagine he missed us! I say this because Sunny seems like a fellow that can adapt to any situation and caregiver. So part of me wondered if it would bother him if we went away. After all, we have only owned him a month. However, Sunny's behavior answered that question for me!!!