Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2003. Mattie was 11 months old, and this was his first visit to Los Angeles. That day we took him to the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena. This is an amazing place to visit and given that Mattie loved being outside, we decided to introduce him to this space. That said, Mattie was pictured in his LEAST favorite vehicle.... the stroller. Mattie HATED all strollers! I am not sure if it was the notion of Mattie being strapped in, being low to the ground, or being unable to see us! Nonetheless, Mattie never lasted long in a stroller. In Mattie's seven short years he introduced me to so many wonderful and memorable adventures!
Quote of the day: It isn’t about what’s wrong with you, it’s about what happened to you. ~ Unknown
Every Sunday, I take my parents out to brunch. This morning at 8am, I got a text message from Cheryl, the server who is now our friend. She let me know she wasn't coming to work today because she is ill. Of course I was worried about Cheryl, and wrote her immediately. I have been taking my parents to visit Cheryl weekly since 2021! That is four years of visiting someone weekly. We know each other's ups and down and believe it or not, I have all the cell phone numbers of our favorite servers. Yes that may sound odd, but I value anyone who cares for my family and goes above and beyond in how they perform their job. When you are in your 80s, and believe it or not my dad turns 90 in APRIL!, going out for lunch is a big outing. Going out provides structure, it requires movement, and it is a social experience. So I take the role of a server seriously.
Any case, since Cheryl wasn't going to be working, I decided to come up with Plan B. Mainly because driving to Cheryl's restaurant is about thirty minutes away! I decided to go somewhere closer to home and had the opportunity to meet a server I have never worked with before. Hanna was amazing and we got to chatting. Needless to say for just the two hours we were out, we found moments of peace. This doesn't always happen for us, so when it does, I celebrate these moments. The weather was lovely, we were seated by a big picture window, and had a nice meal together.
But here's the funny part of this story, in the middle of writing out the email, my head went back against my pillow and I fell asleep. This is unheard of for me to nap, but I think my week was so so stressful, that my body and mind shut off. At least for 15 minutes.
You may notice the photos on my walls. These are photographs we took on our many trips together. I literally have these captured moments in time all over the house. Visuals that illustrate all the places and adventures we had together. Adventures that I thought would continue into the future. So in some ways, even happy and beautiful memories are clouded by negativity.
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