Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2004. Mattie was two years old. That week we took Mattie to Boston to visit my in-laws. This was a summer tradition, of visiting both sets of parents. That day, we took Mattie to their local pond and as you can see he was LOVING the geese and ducks. Naturally we never came empty handed, as we had a bag of bread with us, which made us very popular.
Quote of the day: Forgive yourself for the blindness that put you in the path of those who betrayed you. Sometimes a good heart doesn’t see the bad. ~ Unknown
This morning after I dropped my dad off at his memory care center, I ran home, because my mom was getting evaluated by one of her physical therapist's. I have gotten to know all my parent's therapists quite well. Today we chatted and the therapist was telling me about his wife, who died years ago. This therapist has been practicing for 50 years, and he says he never wants to retire. He works with five patients a week, and loves what he does. He then highlighted what life was like when he was raising his two children. He and his wife had to decide.... does she work or does she stay home full-time to raise the children? She chose to stay home and be present for both of her children, and he then explained he worked three jobs to make that happen. He worked even on the weekends! He said that he is not a rich man, but then I responded.... he is rich in family. He has a tight knit family and his children appreciate all the sacrifices he made for them over the years. This therapist misses his wife and always talks about her in the highest regard, as he understood and appreciated the tough job she did each day.
As a woman who decided to raise Mattie full-time and work part-time, teaching in the evenings, it was very refreshing hearing a man express the sacrifices and the challenges of being a full-time mom. I remember when I was going through the divorce process, my lawyer had me list all the things I did each day to keep our household and family running. Her joke was what I did was priceless, and if we truly added everything up, I would be pulling in a six figure salary. She always got me to chuckle, but she was being truthful.
I continue to work on Mattie Miracle's spring video. Gone are the days, where I could work for hours and concentrate. Now I work in piecemeal. Which makes creating a video challenging at best. But I keep chipping away at it. This afternoon, I took my mom out for tea. On our way into Starbuck's, a man was sitting outside with his German Shepherd. He is one of the regulars we see each week. Today, I happened to stop and told him we have been admiring his dog for the last two weeks. He was deeply touched. He introduced us to his charming fellow, who is 7 years old. He said that this was a guard dog in Iraq, and he worked closely with him over all these years. He said he is now retired and is getting pampered and spoiled. When I looked into this dog's eyes, I swear it was like he was reading my mind and if he could talk, we would have had an very enlightening conversation.
I can't tell you how much this unexpected gift means to me. It now sits with me right by my desk and it will be a reminder that I AM NOT ALONE and that others stand beside me.
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