Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2009. Naturally this photo, like so many taken with Mattie has a story behind it. Each day that Mattie was in the hospital, he was visited and examined by the attending oncologist. That particular day it was Dr. Gonzalez making rounds. Dr. Gonzalez and I actually have very similar personalities, which is why we got along great. We are both emotional, passionate, and when we see a wrong, we have absolutely no problem using our mouths to correct the problem! Though Dr. Gonzalez was not Mattie's doctor, she understood Mattie. No surprise there either, because he was a spit fire. Mattie did not make the examination process easy, but who could blame him! Dr. Gonzalez understood the art of distraction and engaging Mattie's mind, which helped reduce Mattie's stress level over being touched. After receiving all sorts of chemotherapy, undergoing surgeries, and living in a hospital, Mattie lived with constant anxiety. That day Mattie could hear Dr. Gonzalez's pager going off and literally he was intrigued and wanted to know what she was doing. Instead of dismissing him, she sat down, showed him the pager and explained how it worked. You can see how well that went over! I would also like to note that out of all of Mattie's physicians, Dr. Gonzalez's also held firmly to the belief that if Mattie expressed pain he was indeed in pain and therefore gave him pain meds. Whereas others felt that Mattie was becoming addicted to pain meds or was manipulating the situation! Knowing what we know now, clearly Mattie was in excruciating pain all along as cancer was taking over his body!
Quote of the day: My recipe for dealing with anger and frustration: set the kitchen timer for twenty minutes, cry, rant, and rave, and at the sound of the bell, simmer down and go about business as usual. ~ Phyllis Diller
When I saw Phyllis Diller's quote today, I just had to laugh. It was that kind of day. There are so many things I wanted to do today, but I dedicated the day to Foundation Walk permits. Any one who has been reading this blog long term knows how much I HATE to file for permits in the City of Alexandria.
So let me back up. In May, the Foundation holds an annual Walk in Alexandria, VA, on private grounds. Yet the City of Alexandria regulates our event because it is open to the public. In many ways this is a revenue generating opportunity for the city. When you reflect upon the permits though it is quite amusing because I need a fire permit (for my tents and grill), I need a building permit, YES a building permit----for our rock climbing wall, a noise permit, a food permit through the health department and various other permits. Mind you NOT all of these permits are applied for and obtained in the same office.
In 2010, the Foundation held its first walk. That was a permit free Walk. But all that changed in 2011. In 2011, the Foundation was required to file permits and several parents from Mattie's school alerted me to the challenges associated with the permit process. That scared me because when I file permits it is only me, I don't have a Mattie Miracle staff behind me helping me! Therefore, before setting foot into the permit office which is located in City Hall, I happened to mention my concerns to my friend Tina. Without a staff, I have to move smart and more strategically. Tina reached out to her city councilman, told him my concerns and within minutes had answers for me. He connected me to the director of the permit office. Now three years later, guess who I contacted today when I had problems? YES you got it, the director of the permit office! Thankfully John is a true professional, who listens to concerns, feedback, and complaints, and addresses them one by one.
Since 2011, I have gone to City Hall to file for permits in person. This year, the permitting process has been moved on-line. Great, no? It should be easier, right?! WRONG! I never got passed registering to use the application system. I registered with my Mattie Miracle e-mail address, but every time I logged into the system to try to fill out an application, it logged me right out. This game went on for 45 minutes! Phyllis Diller's quote came to mind, because I was ready to have a hissy fit right in front of the computer. But I took a deep breath and decided to log into the system using a different email account hoping that perhaps using gmail would help. Well the system liked my gmail account better. So I then began the application process. I was prompted to fill out a building permit for my rock climbing wall. I knew this was correct and I needed to do this, but when I looked at the form, it literally looked like I was a contractor and I was about to build a house or an apartment complex in Alexandria. So with that, I had just about enough of the convoluted process. Completing these forms correctly is important because without permits, there is NO event.
Instead of walking away, throwing a tantrum, or yelling at someone, I did something better. I went to my email and wrote a letter to John. For me writing to John at this time of year is almost like clock work. I would much prefer to fill out these documents myself. I am an independent person, but I know enough to know when I don't know what I am doing and should seek help! I explained my issues to John and told him my frustrations and then made it clear that I wasn't going to use that unclear/user unfriendly on-line system and someone from his office was going to have to help me. Within minutes I had a response and the names of four senior people in his office who he told me would help me. To my credit, he did admit that the system has flaws and needs to be fixed but that this won't help me right now! I don't know why things have to be so complicated, but I do know one thing....... it is only through human connections that things can get resolved! As I told my friend Tina today, she helped in 2011, and now three years later her connections and assistance were still paying off today. Needless to say, it is my hope that the permitting process will be done by next week!
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