Tonight's picture was taken in February of 2009. We walked into the outpatient clinic that day and found Mattie's art therapists (Jenny and Jessie) working on a hand crafted sign welcoming children and patients to the in-patient pediatric units. They asked Mattie if he wanted to contribute to the sign. His first reaction was NO, until they invited him to add a foot print to the sign! Mattie thought that was a GREAT idea, so you can see Jessie painting Mattie's foot. To this day this Mattie footprint can still be found on the 5th floor of the hospital.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 20,779,193
- Number of people who died from the virus: 458,791
The highlight of my day today was walking Sunny on Roosevelt Island. First of which it was a glorious weather day in DC. I think it reached the 50s and the sun was glorious. I literally could walk the Island without multiple layers, gloves, and a hat. It felt like spring and both Sunny and I were enjoying our time in the fresh air. It reminded me why I think Washington, DC is so special in the spring.
While on the Island, I met an older couple. He was a birder and had binoculars in tow, and his wife, Linda, admitted she doesn't spot things as quickly as her husband. But she also said walking with him is more about strolling to find birds, rather than the actual walk. We met each other twice during our 90 minute walk. The second time we bumped into each other, Linda, really stopped to talk with me.
She loves dogs and her husband is a cat person. Sound familiar?! Just like me and Peter. In any case, she took a liking to Sunny. She then shared with me that they recently lost their cat. The cat was very sick and she said her home looked like a hospital for the past several months. She mentioned that her husband still feels like he can see the cat out of the corner of his eye when he is home. That may sound odd, unless you are a bereaved pet owner. I totally understood what she was reporting as we felt this way for the longest time after Patches died.
There is something very special about bonding with an animal. One may think how hard could it be if your cat or dog dies? The answer really is it could be quite devastating. As animals really do become part of the family. But on a very difficult level, because animals are truly dependent on us and they give us unconditional love. Animals provide us a purpose, meaning in our lives, and I have found that I meet many people while walking because Sunny is by my side.
In any case, while talking about the cat that recently died, Linda was tearing up and she says her husband can't even talk about it. He gets too emotional. What I find particularly interesting about this is.... do you think Linda tells this story to everyone she meets? Maybe! But my hunch is no! Most people do not want to hear about things dying nor the consequence of the loss on us. Yet I feel very comfortable talking about loss and listening to other people's loss story. I truly believe that I must indicate this somehow non-verbally, which is why I have heard many stories over the years since Mattie died. I don't find these stories sad actually, I find them empowering. As I think it is meaningful to hear how other people describe grief and loss and particularly how they live with it in order to MOVE FORWARD, RATHER THAN MOVING ON!
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