Saturday, December 12, 2020

Saturday, December 12, 2020

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2003. Mattie was a year and a half old and we took him to Los Angeles that year for Christmas. While there Mattie would wake up very early in the morning because he was on East coast time. So literally he would be up at 4am and raring to go! I am not sure how Peter and I managed it back then, because by the time my parents got up, we already had a full day with Mattie. 

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 16,020,646
• Number of people who died from the virus: 297,575

In May of 2010, Mattie's class donated a tree to his elementary school in his memory. A memorial tree is very special to us, because it gives us something to do and focus on during holidays and Mattie's birthday. Right from the beginning we decorated the tree and it is a tradition we continue. Today we went to the school with Sunny in tow and decorated Mattie's grove!

I call it the Mattie grove because there are literally THREE trees standing about 5-10 feet apart from each other, and each one was planted for Mattie. The first tree in 2010, died from an oak blight. So we planted a second tree in that location and that tree also was dying. So then a third tree was planted in a new location near the playground. Believe it or not, the third tree was hit by a bigger tree that fell in a wind and lightning storm. Can you believe this? So this photo is the official Mattie memorial tree. It is tree number 4 and it is a white swamp oak. 

A close up for the white swamp oak. I placed a red cardinal ribbon around all three trees today, and two out of the three trees we decorated with ornaments today. 

Mattie's official tree has stars, Christmas balls, butterflies, and toy cars on it. 

We also added an ornament with Mattie's name on it!

This is memorial tree #3, a Yellowwood Tree. The tree that got hit by a larger tree during a storm. After it got hit, it looked horrible and given our track record with the trees, we thought it wasn't going to make it. However, over time, it has bounced back and looks beautiful. It sits about five feet from Mattie's official tree. Nonetheless, I decorate it too! 

A close up of the Yellowwood tree. You may see plastic donuts hanging on the tree as well as jingle bell ornaments! 

This is memorial tree #2. I refer to it as Charlie Brown. Mainly because it is struggling and I am not sure it will make it. This Yellowwood tree was planted after Mattie's oak tree (the first tree planted in 2010) died. However, the arborist feels that trees planted too close to the AstroTurf is a problem. As the AstroTurf seems to leach into the roots. 

Therefore, tree 1 and 2 were planted here but 3 and 4 were planted in a different location, about 10 feet from here. Trees 3 and 4 are located in the school's playground, a place Mattie spent many hours after school with friends. 

While we were on campus today, we found many young children and their parents on the playground. After all kids need to do something while in lock down. In any case, it is always bittersweet visiting the trees, but the feeling is compounded when surrounded by healthy children running around me, oblivious to why we are there. I gave up a long time ago trying to understand why Mattie was diagnosed with cancer, but I must admit that question pops into my mind whenever I am in the midst of young children. What also pops into my head is my need to give these children's parents a lecture on how lucky they are, but of course I don't!