Tonight's picture was taken on August 6, 2009. The day after we learned that Mattie's cancer diagnosis was terminal. You maybe asking yourself..... what was happening in this photo? What was happening was Peter and I had met with the doctor to talk over the news about Mattie's diagnosis and how we could possibly manage the pain. While we were with the doctor, Mattie was playing at the art table. He made all sorts of things and had boat races with friends in the clinic sink. What you see here was Mattie looking at both of us after we returned from talking to the doctor. Mattie was not aware of the severity of his illness at that point and was looking at us to make a determination. I remember that moment like it were yesterday. As we clearly had to pull it together so that we did not scare Mattie after what we had just heard from the doctor.
Quote of the day: There's no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
The reason this is so noteworthy is that we never get butterflies visiting our balcony, only our deck. So this was a novel occurrence, but given that yesterday was an anniversary day of Mattie's terminal diagnosis, we felt that this butterfly was a visitation.
Tomorrow, I head back to Los Angeles to visit my parents. Thankfully there will be no boxes to pack and move. However, the problem with geographic distance, is you do your best to get in as much time together as possible. As traveling by air anywhere these days is stressful and challenging.
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