Saturday, February 16, 2013Tonight's picture was taken in February of 2009. Mattie wasn't the only one who had to do physical therapy. Mattie figured if he had to do it, so did Anna (Mattie's physical therapist) and I. As you can see Mattie had both of us down on the floor doing twister. Needless to say, Mattie had a great time instructing us and laughing at the sight of two adults working on a kid sized twister therapy board! However there wasn't much Anna and I wouldn't do to encourage and motivate Mattie to strengthen his arms and legs. Remember back then the hope was Mattie would walk again. When battling cancer you sometimes have to remain focused on smaller goals because if you look too far ahead at the bigger picture, it can be paralyzing.
Quote of the day: Being considerate of others will take your children further in life than any college degree. ~ Marian Wright Edelman
I am not sure what happened to last night's blog posting. I thought I posted it last night, but when I went on line this evening, I did not see it. So I corrected the problem. Peter and I are now in Los Angeles and left Huntington Beach this afternoon after a very productive, busy, yet successive three days at the American Psychosocial Oncology Society conference.
We began our morning with this glorious sunrise. It seems to me that the sky reflected Mattie Miracle colors and in my mind this was a symbol that Mattie was with us today as we received our award. 
The sky was an absolute ORANGE and glowed. Also the clouds seemed to be dancing and calling attention to the morning's beauty over the Pacific Ocean. 
The actual sun rising. Both the sun and the moon remind me of Mattie. From an early age Mattie always drew the sun in all of his art work and naturally as many of you know Mattie's symbol in preschool was "Mattie Moon." So in essence, though he is not physically with me, Mattie greets me in his own way every morning and every evening NO MATTER WHERE I AM! 
While I was in the exhibit hall today reading through poster presentations, I was tapped on the shoulder and greeted by Jen. Believe it or not, Jen is a former master's student of mine who went on to get her doctorate and become a pediatric psycho-oncologist. I was absolutely astonished to see her and to hear her news. Needless to say I am a proud teacher and I asked Peter to snap a picture of us. Jen was stunned to hear about Mattie, considering when I taught her, Mattie was a toddler and doing just FINE. Choosing to become a psychologist and to work with children battling cancer and their families is not an easy career choice, since it can definitely be heart breaking and rewarding all at the same time. As I told Jen, she was one of the highlights of my day.
Peter and I took a lunch break today and ate near the yellow umbrella in the background. It was a glorious weather day in Huntington Beach and I am convinced that living by the ocean has got to make one feel healthier both mentally and physically. One of the psycho-oncologists from our think tank snapped this photo of Peter and I today and I am glad she did. This was literally minutes before we went back inside to attend the awards program.
Our friend Dave agreed to take photos of the award's ceremony for us today, however in the process he was recruited by the association to photograph the entire ceremony. I will post some of these pictures soon, however, in the mean time, Peter snapped a photo of the beautiful glass plaque given to us today.
The award's ceremony was very touching and each of the recipients really shared messages from their heart. One recipient explained that he loves what he does and loves educating others about working with children who have cancer. He also shared with the audience that his 21 year old son has autism and how much he continues to learn about love, caring, parenting, and compassion by raising a child with special needs. Another recipient shared with us the fact that her mother had Lou Gehrig's disease and what it was like to witness her mother so impaired when she was a child. A part of me feels that these individuals are so passionate about the work that they do because they have the personal insight and experiences of what it is like to be a family caregiver. These individuals were getting acknowledged for their work in oncology and yet within their speeches they integrated and elected to share very personal content that instantly captured the audience's attention!
After the ceremony was over, I got to speak with the mom of the child who has autism. She wanted to hug me because she said that when I spoke, what I was saying resonated with her. She acknowledged that our sons have two different diseases and yet we both get the plight of raising a child who is different and requires a great deal of love and protection. I was touched by her comments and kindness. My last interaction of the day was with a woman who is a cancer survivor herself. After her battle with cancer, she decided to go back to school to pursue a doctorate degree in order to become a psycho-oncologist. She was so moved by our award, our speech, and the fact that we got a standing ovation that she decided to come visit us in our exhibit hall booth. This woman was truly moved by our passion and as a survivor she felt she knew just how hard it is to have the energy that we pour into the Foundation. She hugged me several times, thanked me for the work that I do, and expressed her sorrow for the loss of our beautiful Mattie. Before she left, she grabbed my hand and said that our interaction was the best thing that happened to her today. The feeling is quite mutual! I will never forget some of the wonderful people I have met these last three days and frankly one of my favorite aspects of the conference was having an exhibit booth!
Peter and I are both absolutely exhausted. Besides taking in information, the nature of the conference is very emotional for us. So I am signing off for tonight and will share more photos with you as I get them.
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