Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2009. Mattie was in the hospital recovering from his third major surgery, a sternotomy. Mattie's cancer metastasized to his lungs and frankly we are still in amazement that Mattie survived that surgery and the recovery. Given all that he had overcome by that point in time. Yet despite pain and non-stop hospitalizations, Mattie had some happy moments. What helped greatly was our support community who constantly showered Mattie with toys, books, videos, and other gifts. All these items truly were great diversions for all of us. Notice the Sponge Bob balloons in the room! Mattie came to love Sponge Bob in the hospital, and of course part of me thinks he liked the character, because I disliked it. Regardless, whatever cheered Mattie up, we went with and so did all of his friends.
Quote of the day: We are shaped and fashioned by what we love. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I would say that Goethe's quote is very accurate. In fact it rules my life. What I am referring to is the love I have for Mattie. It is that love that guides my everyday interactions with people and most definitely influences my passion about the Foundation. I am not sure I would do non-profit work or run our own Foundation, if it wasn't such a personal cause. It is the personal side of this work that keeps me up, working long hours, and thinking about Mattie Miracle every day of the week. All other work I have done in the past, was never all consuming like this.
For the past two years, Peter and I have created a Walk video after our event. It is a lovely pictorial way to highlight, remember, and promote our future Walks! Basically the video is photos from the event set and timed to music. I am simplifying the process, because in reality it is VERY labor intensive and takes hours and in some cases days to get it right.
After we got back from South Carolina, we realized the software we used for the past two years wasn't going to work, since we upgraded our version of Microsoft. So much for progress. This progress, set us back significantly. We had to do some research and figure out what the next user friendly platform to use to design our video. Peter is up to his ears with his full time job, so with a little coaching from him, I was determined today to figure out how to design the 2018 Walk video. I have been working on it for hours and still have more to do. But I am making progress and actually feel good about my accomplishment, as I am NOT the technical one in my duo.
In case you haven't seen our last two walk videos, I included them below!!
Walk 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j88w-0NZZ2E
Walk 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw3fZkUfUmk
1 comment:
Vicki, I fell asleep last night, reading Mattie Miracle. I woke up to June 20th which reminded me of what I want to look at from one of your texts. For the time being, my memory is fleeting, so I had not watched it. Now I will go back to June 20th as soon as I comment on your quote of this date about love.
Love most definitely has guided my life. It is the driving force in all I choose to do. Love of family is of the highest priority. Love of friends is truly motivates me too. I think back on my life & my love for my siblings drove the train to get to Wisconsin every. Christmas & summer for 25 years. Love is so powerful. Pretty much, many people will go to many lengths for love. There is a great price for loving so deeply. It is the loss the accompanies great love. I am so sorry, you live your life without Mattie by your side. Child loss will always remain for me the worst loss a person can have happen to them.
Post a Comment