Mattie's Blog and his Fight Against Osteosarcoma

Thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive!

Dear Mattie Blog Readers,

It means a great deal to me that you take the time to write and to share your thoughts, feelings, and reflections on Mattie's battle and death. Your messages are very meaningful and help support me through very challenging times. I am forever grateful. As my readers know, I promised to write the blog for a year after Mattie's death, which would mean that I could technically have stopped writing on September 9, 2010. However, like my journey with grief there is so much that still needs to be processed and fortunately I have a willing support network still committed to reading. Therefore, the blog continues on. If I should find the need to stop writing, I assure you I will give you advanced notice. In the mean time, thank you for reading, thank you for having the courage to share this journey with me, and most importantly thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive.

As Mattie would say, Ooga Booga (meaning, I LOVE YOU)! Vicki

June 12, 2021

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2004. Mattie was two years old and that year we spent a week in the Outer Banks of North Carolina with Peter's parents, brother, sister-in-law, and Mattie's three cousins. We took the kids to the NC aquarium and Mattie was taking it all in. Mattie was always up for an adventure, and he enjoyed trying to keep up with his cousins.

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

Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 33,457,252
Number of people who died from the virus: 599,651

We left Raleigh this morning around 10:30am. Raleigh was a great stop. Peter and I are absolutely exhausted, and we had a slow night and got to bed earlier. We are making a conscious effort to slow down and regroup, before we have to renovate the house and then move.

Unfortunately a good chunk of our drive today looked like this!

For about 90 minutes of the drive in North Carolina, as we headed to the South Carolina border, we passed these kitschy South of the Border signs. The signs are fun for passengers to spot, and I captured most of them with my camera. The signs also give a mileage countdown to South Carolina border. It helps me pass the time as Peter is driving.

This one says.... something different.

I have never seen the reptile lagoon at South of the Border, but if Mattie were with us, you know this would be our first stop!

It is hard to believe that South of the Border has existed since 1949!

South of the Border has everything to entertain families. Rides, food, ice cream, a ride up the observation tower, shops, miniature golf, an arcade, and the list goes on!

You can imagine the anticipation for families the first time they get to South of the Border.

I honestly don't remember this sign from previous trips! I probably did not spot it before.

This is Peter's favorite!

I gather trucks stop over at South of the Border too.

I can bet kids in the car are saying this, as they await seeing South of the Border.

When we arrived at South of the Border today, there was a family. Each of them bought a different hat, and they were a riot to see walking around.

This is what South of the Border looks like. It is very kitschy, but a great stop! This time we stopped for ice cream within the complex.

Peter has driven about ten hours since Friday! Not to mention driving to Boston last week.

How do you like this wiener dog? In fact, there were families walking their real wiener dogs up to this statue. It was humorous!

When you head into South Carolina, you see these beautiful canopies of live oak trees with Spanish moss hanging off of them. To me this is a very special sight. Quintessential South Carolina.

We are staying on Kiawah Island. We made reservations to stay here in 2020, but because of COVID, we postponed the trip to this year. We honestly did not know if we were going to make it down here with all we are juggling. But we made it happen.