Thursday, November 4, 2021

Thursday, November 4, 2021

Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2008. Mattie was home recovering from his first limb salvaging surgery. As you can see his right arm was wrapped and in a sling. The first surgery was overwhelming and soon thereafter Mattie showed signs of medical traumatic stress. Mattie loved pumpkins and despite going through cancer, we felt it was important for him to be surrounded by all the things he loved. Though Mattie wasn't in a wheelchair at that point, we were preparing for this change and Peter built a ramp onto our deck. I have NO IDEA how Peter found the time or the energy to do this, but frankly when living through a crisis, your body goes into overdrive and you can accomplish tasks and things you never thought possible. 

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

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 46,319,558
• Number of people who died from the virus: 751,305

Today was an absolutely exhausting day. I drove to Mattie's school because they are doing a candy collection for us. Typically by this time of year I wouldn't want more candy, but unlike in years past, I need candy this year. People are donating more snacks than candy. Of course both are needed, but I was happy today to pick up a whole trunk full of unopened vacuum sealed candy. One thing I have quickly deduced.... it is a lot easier for people to donate loose candy. Which explains why we used to get TONS of candy donated. I assure you that amount of candy was totally overwhelming to manage, sort, and most of all move to deliver. 

What you may not know is where we moved to, puts me further away from Mattie's school. What once was a 15 minute commute is now 40 minutes each way!

Before heading home, I drove to the Whole Foods near our house. I wanted to pick up a few things. I rarely go to Whole Foods, so today was more of an exception. In any case, while walking up and down the aisles, I met a French chef. We got to talking and you aren't going to believe this, but he went out to his car and gave me a chocolate mousse that he just made. He left the restaurant industry and now does private catering. He gave me his business card and ironically I ate at his former restaurant, Le Refuge in Alexandria MANY times over the years. Here is some info on who I met today:  https://alextimes.com/2008/05/newsmakers-chef-lelan-freelance-chef-brings-french/

At 3pm, a teacher from the Nativity School in Burke, VA came to our home to deliver items. This month's virtue that the School is focused on is fortitude. The kids decided that Mattie Miracle met this virtue, as our items give children with cancer and their families fortitude to cope and carry on. I found this story very touching and I have asked the teacher to help me recreate it for a newsletter. 

The school donated items to help us start up our new cart at the National Institutes of Health. Their generosity is just incredible. 

I spent several hours digging out of the bags you saw above in my garage. This photo is what came out of the bags! Totally impressive, no?

What is stacked in my kitchen is separate from what's stacked in this room. Needless to say, I have snacks for hundreds of people! The generosity of Mattie Miracle supporters never ceases to amaze me.