Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2004. Mattie was two years old. Mattie absolutely loved his frog sandbox and spent many a day and sometimes evenings outside on our deck in the sand. Mattie had all sorts of things in the sandbox and as he got older he even brought pieces of wood into the box to design ramps for his cars! This sandbox now sits outside our deck space in the commons area. Since Mattie died, all the neighboring children come to play in the box. The irony is NO ONE has ever asked me whether their child can play in the box, they just help themselves. I remember the first time I saw children playing in Mattie's box, I was mortified. I have gotten used to the sights and sounds now. On occasion, parents wave to me from my window, since I can see them while I work from my desk through Mattie's bedroom window. Some days I am fine with the sight and of course some days it is bittersweet.
Quote of the day: Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time, who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done, if we are always doing. ~ Thomas Jefferson
Today was another extremely long day, in which I find I am suffering from migraines and probably shouldn't even be on the computer. I started the day reconnecting with a former student of mine. She has been living in San Francisco for the past five years, and returned to DC for a visit. Tess has decided to go to nursing school and wanted to share with me her thoughts on this decision. Tess got to know Mattie during his battle and also interacted with him during the first Walk that he attended in 2009. I find it quite ironic that two of my students who were avid blog readers during Mattie's cancer journey have now chosen to become nurses!
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