Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Tonight's picture was taken on July 19, 2009. Mattie was home and as you can see he built a track and lots of trains made out of Legos. Legos were Mattie's favorite things to play with, but they were not only a toy. They kept his mind occupied, his hands busy, and in many ways it kept us all talking to each other. It gave us something more pleasant to talk about and a positive distraction from the overwhelming stress and pressure we lived under with each and every day. Legos served as a social bridge too between Mattie and his doctors, nurses, and social support staff. It is hard to believe that at one time we had THOUSANDS of Lego bricks within our home, and now we virtually have almost none, except for the pieces Mattie built. 


Quote of the day: Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape. ~ Charles Dickens


It has been non-stop rain in Washington, DC. Today was NO different, it was torrential! Not my kind of day to fly in! But literally I am so exhausted, I have very little energy to emote my fears and anxieties. That doesn't mean I don't have them! At times the flight felt like a roller coaster and the turbulence we hit while we were landing left me closing my eyes with my head shaking side to side. Any case, after we landed, Peter commended me for doing so well. I laughed because I just couldn't wait to get off the plane! All in all, given the awful weather, we were very lucky we had no delays and the plane wasn't grounded. 

We checked into the hotel, and then literally walked to a local Italian Restaurant for dinner. It is overcast here and cool, but not raining. We passed several sites along our walk and snapped a few photos. The first one was of information about the Underground Railroad.

Clearly this is the headquarters of the Dispatch, Ohio's "greatest home newspaper." Both the sign and the building caught our attention. 

Peter snapped a photo of me by the State Capital Building in Columbus! I am frozen and it is almost May 1! I am in three layers!!!

We start our day tomorrow by setting up our poster presentation. Then will deliver our keynote from 10:15 to 11:15am. Around 110 people will attend this keynote presentation and then the poster session is from 12:30 to 1:30pm. Throughout the day we will be attending other sessions as well! So it will be a full day. 

I end tonight's posting with a photo sent to me by the girl scout troop at Mattie's school. My friend Ann took them today on their annual shopping visit to purchase Legos for the Mattie Miracle Lego Raffle Basket. This troop donates Lego items to our raffle each year, in order to keep Mattie's Lego tradition alive at the Walk. Very thoughtful and meaningful. However, as the troop evolves, so do the girls. Very few of the girls actually ever knew Mattie. Yet Ann's daughter, Abbie, shared with the girls some information about her friend Mattie and tried to explain why they were collecting Legos and the importance of raising childhood cancer awareness and funds for Mattie Miracle.