Sunday, March 16, 2025

Sunday, March 16, 2025

Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2009. This was a special day at the hospital, it was their opening party of the children's art gallery. I remember Mattie and I created many pieces for this exhibit. Some were poetry, some collages, and Mattie also created a Lego model of an ideal hospital room. To this day, our collages are still on display at the hospital's children's art gallery. I can't tell you how much that means to me! Can you see the man with the violin? That is Anthony! Anthony was a volunteer at the hospital and believe it or not, he also volunteers at my dad's memory care center. So now Anthony is helping two different generations of mine. As you can see, Mattie was like a moth to a flame. He had a way of attracting such wonderful people into his life. 

Quote of the day: Hardships make or break people. ~ Margaret Mitchell

If this isn't a sign that spring is coming, then I do not know what is! Over the winter, I brought in my two big "Sunny" hibiscus. I bought these glorious plants last spring. The notion of them dying, didn't sit right with me. So I transplanted them into plastic pots and brought them inside in the fall. I bought these plants in a tribute to my beautiful Sunny, who died on January 10, 2024. 

See the clock on the wall. It is a banjo clock. It belonged to my mother-in-law's father. I recall this clock in his dining room and then when he died, we got the clock. For decades I have seen this clock in our  front hallway. In fact, when we moved to the house in 2021, this clock immediately found its home. Since this clock no longer belongs to me, I made the difficult decision to remove it from the wall today and store it. But I had to find something to go in its place. 

Meet its replacement..... my cuckoo clock! I was given this clock by my mentor, Don, at the George Washington University. At the time he was moving out of his city condo and he was having a tag sale. We went over to visit him, with Mattie in tow. Don liked Mattie a lot and in fact, when Mattie was born, Don gave me the book, "Goodnight Moon." Which happened to be Mattie's favorite story! We read it so often, that we could recite it cold! 

While at the tag sale, Don just gave me several things. One was Lionel toy trains for Mattie and the second was this cuckoo clock. This clock was hanging in our city townhouse for decades. I loved hearing the cuckoo noise every hour! 

As I was cleaning out cabinets yesterday, I came across this clock. I decided to bring this whimsical clock back out and display it. I wasn't sure it was going to work, but it works beautifully. It is a tribute to my mentor, who always believed in me. 

On the day of my dissertation defense at the university, Don was on my committee. To defend a dissertation, it feels like you are sitting in the hot seat, because you never know what questions will get fired at you, and better yet after all this work.... will you pass and graduate? To start the defense off that day, Don greeted everyone and then announced he was wearing his "panda power tie." Indeed the tie had a beautiful panda on it and what Don was telling me was... he wished me luck and was sending me the power I needed to survive this grueling two hour process. I will never forget his kindness, his professionalism, and his support. If I can't have the banjo clock, which symbolizes so much of my history, then the cuckoo clock is a great replacement. 

It is a clock that represents a different time in my life. A time when I was much younger, Mattie was healthy, and I thought our family had a beautiful future ahead. Now whenever I hear this cuckoo sing his song on the hour, I will think of Don and the power he wished upon me during my dissertation defense in March of 2003.