Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2009. That day Team Mattie gave him this cute bunny hat for Easter. Mattie put on the hat, but if you can tell it wasn't a good or happy day for him. I think as Mattie's cancer journey continued, he felt more and more debilitated and therefore it isolated him more and more from his friends. Mattie was very aware of the fact that his life looked different from healthy children. For the most part, Mattie did not dwell in these feelings like an adult would, but nonetheless, if you scratched the surface, the issues were very evident.
Quote of the day: As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed. ~ Vincent van Gogh
Sunday is the only day of the week where I can sleep past 6:30am. However, at 3:45am, I was awakened by the power going out! Yes I am that sensitive that I can be jolted awake with any sort of noise or changes. While I jumped out of bed, I also heard a firetruck and ambulance. It was so loud that I thought it was on my street! It wasn't. I later found out that there was a car accident blocks from me that took down an electric pole, affecting over 300 customers. We were without power for six hours. Thankfully we have a generator, but today, I got a crash course in understanding when the generator is on and when we are on utility power. Literally you should have seen me, as I was walking around the outside of the house in my pajamas trying to hear whether other neighbors' generators were on! The sound outside was intense, as you could hear generator motors everywhere! The reason I did this, was because I have a Ting app that lets me know about the electrical activity in the house. The Ting app kept telling me that power was restored. However, if that was the case, I was confused as to why the generator was on! Which is why I went outside to see if neighbor generators were running, or just mine. I have now learned how to read the Ting app and I understand when they tell me power is restored, they are basically telling me that the generator is running. What I need to then see is a follow up message about being back on utility power. Honestly the things I am learning, I could write a book! I went from someone who knew nothing about the inner workings of the house, to being almost in full control!
Any case, it was a bad start to the day, and it only got worse with managing my dad's irritable bowel issues. I am quite certain the average person would not take him out. It is just too labor intensive. Literally I changed my dad before leaving the house. As soon as we got to the restaurant, I had to change him again, and yet again while eating. All I can say is my parents are lucky that I have a cast iron stomach!
