Mattie's Blog and his Fight Against Osteosarcoma

Thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive!

Dear Mattie Blog Readers,

It means a great deal to me that you take the time to write and to share your thoughts, feelings, and reflections on Mattie's battle and death. Your messages are very meaningful and help support me through very challenging times. I am forever grateful. As my readers know, I promised to write the blog for a year after Mattie's death, which would mean that I could technically have stopped writing on September 9, 2010. However, like my journey with grief there is so much that still needs to be processed and fortunately I have a willing support network still committed to reading. Therefore, the blog continues on. If I should find the need to stop writing, I assure you I will give you advanced notice. In the mean time, thank you for reading, thank you for having the courage to share this journey with me, and most importantly thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive.

As Mattie would say, Ooga Booga (meaning, I LOVE YOU)! Vicki

May 26, 2018

Saturday, May 26, 2018

Saturday, May 26, 2018

Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2009. That day we went over to our friend's house. They had a swing in their backyard. Mattie wanted to go on the swing, but was afraid to do it on his own. Most likely for many reasons.... he did not have the physical strength necessary to swing and because he was concerned he would fall and injure himself. Given that three out of his four appendages were operated on, it was a very valid fear.

Quote of the day: For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned. ~ Benjamin Franklin

After the Walk is over, we literally start that evening disassembling the materials we brought on-site to the event. It takes us about a full week to reorganize items before we are ready to wrap everything back up in heavy plastic sheeting, to bring to storage. Today was wrapping and storage day.

Peter set up a wrapping station in our living room. I am not sure what is more challenging the wrapping or the loading of trolleys to bring things to storage. Either case, we took some photos of the before and after today!

Do you get the picture!? This is what our living and dining rooms looked like. They were filled with boxes, posters, pop up tents, and other Walk items.

Stacks of stuff everywhere! Yet we can't just throw things back into storage like this. We have to be methodical about the items. We take an inventory of what we have and then each item is wrapped to protect it from any unforeseen issue in storage.

Fortunately we have a large space at home that we are able to effectively stack things and still have enough room to move around. However, both Indie and Sunny are thrilled to have the entire space back for themselves.