This is a hand print of Mattie's. This print was made out of model magic on the day that Mattie died, September 8, 2009. Mattie's child life specialist came into Mattie's room and took a hand and footprint of him. I can't tell you how much these prints mean to me! You can see in the photo below that these prints sit on the Italian music box I bought after Mattie died to house his ashes. All art work... paintings, drawings, clay objects, poems, Lego structures, jewelry, and the list goes on that Mattie created are legacy pieces. They are reminders of my incredible 7 year old, who loved life, his family and friends, nature, all vehicles with wheels, and Legos.
Quote of the day: How does it feel, to see a dying child? One does not feel at all for there is nothing in the mind to make sense of it. Nothing, but one's own death. ~ A.J.West
Yesterday I ran my hose into the pool for 8 hours. You heard me correctly, 8 hours. I needed to refill the pool in order for it to get tested for leaks. Since I hadn't filled the pool in a week, it lost 7 or more inches of water! It seems somewhat counter intuitive that I had to refill a leaky pool, but there was no other way for the testing process to effectively work. After the ordeal of filling the pool, before I went to sleep last night, I looked up at the moon and said to Mattie.... please watch over me tomorrow. I just can't handle a major issue with broken pipes. Truly all I could picture was my backyard getting dug up, looking for leaks.
When I tell you that I have practically had every problem possible in this house, I am not kidding. My rolodex of companies who have come to help me is growing. Today, I had the wonderful opportunity to work with American Leak Detection. I got to meet Devon and he was an absolute peach of a person. He welcomed me to observe and participate, and naturally I did, because I want to be knowledgeable about everything on the property.
I explained the issues I was observing over the last week to Devon. I told him where I suspected the issues were coming from and he listened and took it all in. I watched the entire process for two hours and observed how dye is injected into cracks, drains, skimmers, and returns. If there is a leak, the dye is sucked into the area where there is a leak. I got to see this first hand today! Truly it was fascinating, as the process required Devon to get into the water, he needed googles, patience, and I admired that he was methodical. Sure enough there were leaks in pool lights and in some of the cracks I noticed on the surface. Not that this is great news, but I began to feel somewhat relieved that perhaps this was what caused the water loss in the pool, rather than broken pipes! But of course once the dye testing was done, then Devon tested the pressure in the pool. As this is the way to confirm whether the issue truly involves the pipes into the pool. I learned a lot today and as I told Devon, God was with me today. I have NO leaky pipes! Seriously I felt like I won the lottery, because I truly did not know how I was going to manage a much larger problem.
Any case, before Devon left today, he wanted me to know that my observations and instincts about the leak problems were spot on. I can't tell you how much that meant to me because managing this house alone is daunting. I have had a steep learning curve over the last two years, but with each problem I face, I realize..... I can do this! If I can't do it or figure it out, there are qualified people who can help me. Asking for help can be embarrassing, but I got over that embarrassment after month two or three. Now I am onto finding a way to get all of these issues fixed. I am grateful to my leak detection angel, for Devon figuring out the problems and for his kindness throughout the process. Devon clearly loves what he does and it makes such a difference when you are working with people who are passionate about their jobs. It makes what feels like the impossible, a little more possible.
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