Tonight's picture was taken on Halloween of 2008.....Mattie's last Halloween. He was home recovering from his first limb salvaging surgery. However, that year, Mattie celebrated Halloween twice. He went trick or treating at the hospital (pictured here) and then later with his friend Zachary. Mattie was very strategic about picking out his costume. He was allowed to go to the outpatient clinic and be the first child to pick out a costume. I will always be grateful to Mattie's art therapists and child life specialist. They knew that Mattie was very self conscious about his bandaged arm. Mattie was also concerned about being around other children who would potentially knock him over for hit his arm. So having private access to the costume room was brilliant. Mattie carefully examined each costume and then picked the mummy costume. He felt that it would cover his bald head and his bandaged arm. Making it seem like he was just a kid and NOT a kid with cancer.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- number of people diagnosed with the virus: 9,365,360
- number of people who died from the virus: 232,484
Tuesday is my grocery shopping day. Yes I have a schedule! I am sure that surprises no one who knows me. In any case, I went grocery shopping and two things were very evident! One the shelves were empty like during a snowstorm or crisis and two, there was a big sign on the grocery store door saying they were closing today at 10pm. Which is unheard of for this store! Why? Because of the election. What kind of world do we live in that we have to worry about our personal safety, boarding up stores and businesses, and residents in cities having to worry about stock piling of food and paper products? In fact, our neighbor the George Washington University sent out an email this week saying....... students and faculty should prepare for potential protests by having food and other necessities stored in their dorm rooms or homes.
In fact, I came across this article entitled, People are stocking up on money, fuel and meals to prep for potential Election Day unrest — ‘It’s not a pure catastrophe. It’s an election.’ Click on the link if you want to read it for yourself. For days, maybe weeks, this level of fear, uncertainty, and anxiety have been all around me. I hear it on TV, radio, and from my neighbors. I think walking into the grocery store today actually jolted me into reality about the dangers that could potentially be heading our way in Washington, DC. Needless to say, on top of living with lock downs from Coronavirus, we have to worry about potential violence as well. All of this has great mental health consequences, because wherever we are, we can't find peace.
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