Thursday, July 9, 2026

Thursday, July 9, 2026

Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2009. Mattie was in the outpatient pediatric physical therapy clinic, working with Anna. I can't tell you how many games and strategies we employed to get Mattie to exercise his arms and legs. It took a very creative therapist to work with Mattie, and Anna was the perfect match. I will never forget how hard she worked with Mattie and what an incredible support she was to me. She provided an amazing balance between the reality of Mattie's condition and instilling great hope. 

Quote of the day: When we lose someone we love and we also lose a part of ourselves, it's something more. When who we have lost is so deeply connected to who we are, when we are inextricably linked not only to a person but to our connection to them, the loss of our relationship is often a loss of our own self. That is why such loss stretches beyond being heartbroken to being soulbroken. ~ Stephanie Sarazin

This photo showed up in my email in-box today. My grandmother talked about this photo for years. This photo was taken in Sorrento, Italy. The elbow next to me was my grandmother. As you can see, I was drinking a coca cola. I look at this photo now, and think about how happy my life was growing up. I grew up in a loving and intact family and from such a solid foundation, one would have thought that would have translated into my adult life. Unfortunately that was not the case. Seeing this photo still makes me smile. 

A friend of mine shared the concept of a stress bucket with me. Picture a bucket, and piles of stress going into the bucket. At some point, without a break, the bucket will overflow. When that happens a crisis can unfold. The notion of the stress bucket has been floating around in my mind. This morning, when I woke up, I decided that I had to call my dentist. Why? Because a few weeks ago, my dental cleaning was moved to this coming Tuesday at 3pm, to accommodate the hygienist's schedule. Mind you, I always go for doctor visits when my dad is at his memory care center, and before I need to take my mom out at 1pm. So my appointments are usually around 11am. But when my dental appointment got cancelled weeks ago, I was given the only appointment available with my hygienist. At the time, I just took it. That is me, always accommodating to everyone else's needs.

But this morning, I said to myself.... NO! NO WAY! Tuesdays are crazy days in general at my home with both physical therapy sessions and a nurse visiting my dad. After which, my parents like to go out for a snack. It would be impossible for me to balance all of this and get to my dental visit on time. My dentist is in Washington, DC, which takes me about 40 minutes to drive one way, without traffic. As I was plotting out this appointment in my mind, what dawned on me is that after my dental visit, I would be hitting rush hour traffic trying to get out of the city. All of this was more than enough to make my head spin. So at 8am today, I called the dentist and worked on rescheduling the appointment. I have to wait until September, but that is fine with me. 

I am sure this doesn't sound like a big deal or earth shattering. But for me it is, as I typically do not think about what is in my best interest. Today, I not only thought about what was in my best interest, but I did something about it.