A Remembrance Video of Mattie

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



January 22, 2022

Saturday, January 22, 2022

Saturday, January 22, 2022

Tonight's picture was taken in January of 2009. Mattie was home between hospital treatments and as you can see that day he decided to take a plastic cooler (which his medication was shipped in) and converted it into a bicycle helmet. Not that Mattie was riding bicycles at that point. But you can see he was thinking about it through his creativity. Though Mattie did his best to stay busy and engaged, it is evident to me while looking at this photo that Mattie was not happy, he was exhausted, and just not himself. 




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

  • Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 70,425,438
  • Number of people who died from the virus: 865,240


In my head I have determined that by spring I want the basement unpacked of boxes. In December, when my parents moved in, all 200+ boxes and bins of theirs were stored in the basement. I literally was so overwhelmed by this, that I closed the basement door and left it like this until after January 1. 

Keep in mind that I just completed a move of my own in August of 2021. Packing up our home of 27 years in Washington, DC was no easy task. Now just a couple of months later I have this task. But it isn't just unpacking things, I balance full time caregiving chores around the clock on top of this. 


As of today this is what our basement is looking like. Peter has really been chipping away at it. He has organized the boxes by zones within the basement. Peter is smart because he knows he can't overwhelm me all at once with items. Instead he brings things upstairs a little bit at a time. This gives me the time to balance caregiving and finding homes for my parents items. 
There is still a way to go, but at least the boxes aren't up to the ceiling anymore. Nonetheless, we will go back at it tomorrow. 

Given all that I did yesterday, and also falling in the bathroom while cleaning poop in the shower, I am all aches and pains today. Thank goodness for Advil, otherwise I wouldn't be able to function today. 




Posted by The Brown Family (DC) at 7:43 PM

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