Friday, September 6, 2019

Friday, September 6, 2019

Tonight's picture was taken on November 18, 2008. Mattie was in the hospital recovering from his second major limb salvaging surgery. With that surgery, he had his right leg bone, left arm bone, and left wrist bone removed and replaced with a prosthetic. I would say that surgery was the true beginning of the end. Mattie was never the same after it, as he could no longer walk, dress himself, or go to the bathroom without assistance. It was a nightmare for Mattie to not only be dealing with cancer, but also a profound physical disability. I snapped this photo because for the first several days post surgery, it was hard for Mattie to move from bed. His limbs were all wrapped up, he had drains at each surgical site, and he was dealing with a lot of pain. Despite all of that, Mattie was interested in playing, and you would be amazed how many things we actually did to entertain him while bed bound. 

Quote of the day: The objective of cleaning is not just to clean, but to feel happiness living within that environment. ~ Marie Kondo

I devoted the day to 'cleaning' out our walk-in closet. I absolutely hate this chore! My lifetime friend Karen, introduced me to Marie Kondo. Marie is Japanese and she specializes in helping families organize and clean out their homes. I watched an episode of her show last weekend on Netflix. She is absolutely adorable, calm, and seems to interact with the spaces she is assessing. Almost as if they were animate objects. 

I think I must have spent 8 hours cleaning this closet. I am not sure it brings me happiness as Marie Kondo suggests. Mainly because within this closet are Mattie items and of course Foundation items. Organizing Foundation items are easy. Assessing and figuring out what to do with Mattie items are much more complex. Of course this isn't my first time cleaning out this closet or going through Mattie's items. I remember the first time I went at it back in 2013. All I can say is WOW! It is not easy going through your deceased child's room, clothes, toys, and mementos. Frankly it is just NOT right, but I knew seeing Mattie's room in total chaos was not doing any justice to his memory. So that forced me to address the incredible hoard that was going on in his room. It maybe hard to imagine, but every day Mattie was on his cancer journey, he received gifts. After a while, these items started piling up, piling up and PILING UP. So between Mattie's items pre-cancer and the items we accumulated while in treatment, his room and our home were overwhelming. 

This may not look like an improvement, but I disposed of a lot of paper and am donating a ton of items. It is now a usable closet again, where I can find things.

Of course once you start on one closet, it becomes a bit of a domino effect. As now I want to address other areas in our home.  

If addressing this closet wasn't enough today, we also had one of our air conditioning units flood today. All over our floor! I have been working all day on drying the floor, but unfortunately the wood buckled. Thankfully Peter knows how to fix the floor, as he got good practice in the spring, when our neighbor's tub in the unit above us flooded and came through our walls and into Mattie's room. Quite a Friday here.