Saturday, January 7, 2012Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2008, four months before Mattie was diagnosed with cancer. That March, Mattie and I flew out to Los Angeles because I had a conference to attend in Hawaii. While I worked in Hawaii for four days, my parents took care of Mattie. During our stay together in Los Angeles we took Mattie to the arboretum and my mom snapped this picture of us together. I still can recall Mattie running around that day through each of the different gardens. Mattie had a profound influence on all of us because we knew he preferred being outdoors and being one with nature, so over time, we too not only planned these kinds of activities for him but we also enjoyed seeking them out.
Quote of the day: The quality of your life is the quality of your relationships. ~ Anthony Robbins
Peter kept telling me all day that the temperature was climbing and it was in the 60s. I did register what he was saying but I frankly never moved from the kitchen table for about six hours. I am sorry I missed this warm day! I was very focused today on designing a Foundation brochure that describes who we are, our mission, our activities, our accomplishments and how to contact us. For the past several months, I literally have been accumulating brochures from different organizations in order to give me some ideas for the development of the Mattie Miracle brochure. I do not believe in reinventing the wheel especially when good brochure samples are already out there. Having the samples gave me great ideas and helped us tailor our own brochure.
So between Peter and I, we developed the first draft of our brochure today, and I have to say I am pleased with its content and style. I joked with him and said, "when we work together, there is no telling what we can accomplish." Which is a good way of feeling after being quarantined for six hours straight.
The highlight of today was meeting our friends Heidi and Phil for dinner. As many of my faithful blog readers know, I met Heidi in zumba class. Heidi knew exactly who I was when I entered the classroom, because she is an avid blog reader and has been following Mattie's story for years. She knew me before I even had met her. Heidi and I have a lot in common and we both enjoy trying new restaurants and food. Though she lives in VA, she has no hesitation to come to DC to meet. I must admit I am not used to this, since I find the Washington, DC area very funny. Though we really are a tri-state area (VA, MD, DC), people tend to stick to their own neck of the woods. The ironic part about all of this is I live in DC, but am used to commuting to Alexandria. Heidi is giving me the chance to get reacquainted with the wonderful restaurants located in DC. In fact, after dinner we walked around and we were absolutely stunned to find the streets near the Verizon Center packed with people and all the lights and action reminded us of Times Square in NY.
I would like to end tonight's blog posting with an article I received today from my friend, Debbie. Debbie and I had an email exchange last week about several of my hot buttons. Two of which are over programming of children and exposing our children to all sorts of competitions rather than allowing them the opportunity to do things for the sheer fun, exercise, and socialization of the activity. In the midst of our conversation, I told her that we as a society really need to return to a simpler way of life. I love technology, but it is also the cause of great stress, anxiety, demands, and the lack of communication for us. When Debbie saw this article entitled, The Joy of Quiet, today she knew this was something I would want to read. She was absolutely correct! I see that my perspective is not far off track, after all if people are paying $2000 or more a night for PEACE and QUIET, that fact seems to speak for itself. See if you can relate...........................
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/opinion/sunday/the-joy-of-quiet.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all
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