Thursday, September 29, 2022

Thursday, September 29, 2022

Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2007. That day we took Mattie to the ballpark to watch the Nationals play. I honestly do not remember getting ice cream at the park, so this photo jogged my memory. Unfortunately for Peter, Mattie took after me in the sports department. We would go with Peter, but we weren't interested in the game. Instead we preferred people watching and taking in the sights and sounds in the park!

Quote of the day: Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them. ~ Leo Tolstoy

This morning I woke up and found several photos that were text messaged to me. The wonderful researchers we work with are in Barcelona and were presenting on the Psychosocial Standards of Care! I hear that Mattie Miracle was mentioned and acknowledged. Wonderful news and a great way to get our name known in this international forum!

This is Dr. Anne Kazak. We have been working with Anne since 2010, shortly after Mattie died. When Mattie died, we were broken and we were dealing with symptoms and issues that were hard to describe. Being an educator by heart, I started researching what we were experiencing and that is how I found Anne and her pioneer work on medical traumatic stress with parents of children with cancer. Anne's work resonated with me, so much so that I emailed her. I never thought she would respond, but she did. We exchanged many emails and then moved to phone conversations. From these conversations we then asked Anne to be the scientific chair of the psychosocial symposium we held on Capitol Hill in 2012. The rest is history. It is thanks to our connection with Anne that wonderful things happened, and we are honored to have partnered with her on ground breaking psychosocial research.  

We had a long day. My dad had physical therapy and then we took him friend, John, out to eat before taking him to the airport. John has visited from England for seven days. 

Pictured with me is Cheryl. Cheryl is our outstanding server and now friend at Willow Creek. A restaurant in Ashburn, VA. Though Cheryl wasn't working today, she came in to say hi to us, to meet John and to make sure we got a good table and were well taken care of. She is truly a loving, kind, and spunky soul. I am grateful to be connected with her and I think our personal connection with her is very good stimulation for my dad. 

A photo of all of us tonight. John used to work with my dad. They have known each other 41 years. He made this trip to see my dad, and I appreciate his desire to spend time with us and to celebrate their long friendship.