Thursday, December 16, 2021

Thursday, December 16, 2021

Tonight's picture was taken on December 20, 2008. Mattie was home recovering from his surgeries and that day his art teacher surprised him with this wonderful wreath. A wreath made out of paper, and on each leaf was a message or creation from each kindergarten student at Mattie's school. It truly was a work of art and very thoughtful. For years after Mattie died, Peter and I had this wreath. We hung it on the inside of our front door. When this photo was taken, Mattie needed a hospital bed and our living room became a make shift clinic complete with IV pole, commode, wheelchair, and so forth. It is a time in my life I will never forget. It is etched forever in my memory as was the chaos all around me at home. Chaos that continued on in our home for about three more years after Mattie died. It took a lot of energy, strength and courage to work through all the piles of things that Mattie collected and were given to him during his cancer treatment. Literally Mattie got boat loads of stuff daily for over a year. You would be amazed how quickly things pile up when you don't have the time to evaluate, organize, and purge things. I am now a product of this experience, and I no longer can relate to clutter and lots of things. When I am surrounded by chaos, I feel internally anxious, angry, and unstable. 

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

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 50,475,878
• Number of people who died from the virus: 803,271

I got up at 5am today in order to get myself ready, my dad ready, strip the beds my parents were temporarily sleeping in, did about five loads of laundry, made breakfast and then greeted the four movers at 7:30am. As you can see the moving truck was very big and very full. It took 7 hours for the truck to be unloaded and things assembled into the house. 

My basement is about 1,800 square feet. In other words it is bigger than my town house that I moved from in Washington, DC. I have NO idea what I would have done without this space. As you can see my parents items have filled 200 boxes in the basement and the stacks are floor to ceiling. 

Boxes everywhere! I honestly have NO idea how I will manage this, keep in mind that I just completed my own move of my own. Which meant evaluating Mattie's things and dealing with those difficult decisions. If that wasn't enough, I have been moving my parents since 2018. 2018, 2020, and now 2021! I could run a packing and moving company by now. 

I would like to say that the chaos is just contained to the basement, but it is not. The BIG addition in our house, which was built by the previous owner, no longer seems big. It is packed with furniture and the lack of wall and free space has made me so edgy, I can't process this room for the next few days. I have to walk away until I am ready to deal with it. 

In addition to clutter, the movers dinged our paint on the walls. I completely understand as things are heavy, but it is another thing that set me off, given the ordeal I have been through with getting this house painted. 

Here is the highlight of my day, my dear friend sent me baked mini cupcakes. It is these surprises that perk me up and truly make me smile. As I always say, I have the best friends and Mattie Miracle supporters. 

This is what these treats look like. I can't wait to try them after dinner. I have been on my feet all day and my day isn't over yet. My dad keeps telling us he is thrilled the move is over. He has NO concept for the amount of work ahead. When we show him photos of the packed basement, his response is that the basement is big. The purpose of the photo wasn't taken to show the space, but rather what is FILLING the space. Unfortunately my dad's brain no longer works like it did and this is an adjustment for all of us.