Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2005. This was literally Mattie's first day of preschool. The photo was taken by his teacher, Margaret. I just love this photo, because despite the fact that this was a new experience, a new environment, and surrounded by new people, Mattie was smiling and taking it all in. 

Margaret had this photo of Mattie on display on the classroom door for that entire year. I am so happy that Margaret shared the electronic photo with me. 





Quote of the day: The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. ~ William James

I made three more candy deliveries. I was literally in DC, Maryland, and Virginia today and spent about three hours driving all over the place. 

My first stop was the Children's Inn at NIH. Getting onto NIH's campus is NO easy feat. You and your car go through security checks. You have to get out of your car and every aspect of it gets searched. While the car is getting searched, you go through a metal detector and screening. 

When I was cleared, I then had to get back into my car and drive to where the Children's Inn is located on the HUGE campus. However, what I found was the security folks got a kick out of seeing all the candy in my car and one guard literally followed me back to my car and she wanted candy! Candy is hard to resist no matter what your age is!!!

So I donated 100 pounds of candy to the Children's Inn and then my second delivery today was to the Ronald McDonald House in Falls Church, VA. I donated another 100 pounds here. Pictured here is Cinteria, the house manager. Cinteria is delightful. She is new to this position, but we connected since she has lived in New York and Southern California. 

My third candy delivery was to Special Love for Children with Cancer. I love how Special Love picks up the candy... in their Mystery Machine. If Mattie were alive, he would have LOVED seeing this van, because Mattie was a huge Scooby Doo fan. 

Pictured with the 500 pound candy donation is Dave Smith. Dave is the CEO of Special Love. 

So yesterday we delivered 800 pounds of candy and today 700 pounds. 

While I was running around town, this team of moms gathered together to do a massive sorting of candy. They worked for over six hours today. We could never manage this candy drive without their leg work and dedication. 

Pictured from left to right are:
Sharon Luther, Karen Beckhorn, Tina Lytle, Danelle Fortune, Cecile Phillips, and Sonja Clark. 

This is what my friend's garage looks like. Once the candy gets sorted into ziplocs, the bags are then stored in bins and delivered this way. But bins are bulky and heavy which is where Mattie's school comes into the mix. The school comes to pick up these bins in a truck and helps me deliver them to two locations. However, this year, I will be dealing with candy into December based on the timing of things. Our candy drive supplies the following places:

1) MedStar Georgetown University Hospital (Washington, DC)
2) Children's Hospital at Sinai in Baltimore (Maryland)
3) Ronald McDonald House DC (Washington, DC)
4) Ronald McDonald House Falls Church (Virginia)
5) HSC Pediatric Center (Washington, DC)
6) Children's Inn at NIH (Maryland)
7) National Children's Medical Center (Washington, DC)
8) Special Love (Virginia)
9) Candlelighter's and Growing Hope (Virginia)

Tonight's photo was taken while I was walking Sunny! This is what Washington Harbor looks like. The fountain was transformed into an ice skating rink. I really MISS the fountain, as this signals to me that winter is coming. 

Meanwhile, look who was caught in the act..... Sunny moved the cat's bed on top of his bed. Sunny was trying to give the cat and me a message. He does this when he deems I am giving the cat too much attention. 

However, it happened, last night, both animals were on the bed with us. That did not take them long!!!