Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2004. Mattie loved umbrellas and all gadgets really. So Peter took his huge work umbrella and opened it up on Mattie's play mat. As you can see, it was a peek a boo moment. You can clearly see Mattie and behind him was Peter.
Quote of the day: God cannot be everywhere; that's why he had created Philanthropists (Volunteers and Donors). ~ Sabiha Hasan
I learned that two teachers (who I did not know) died this week at Mattie's school. The school as a community is besides itself. Some students are unable to go to school, concentrate, and of course the realization is that death can happen to young people and without warning in some cases. While I was out and about today, I had the opportunity to meet one of the chaplains in the middle school. If Mattie were alive, he would have had Mattie as a student. Typically I do not relate to chaplains and preachers of any kind anymore. Because as soon as you start talking about God's will, I want to lose it. But this man wasn't that way at all, said nothing trite, and was clearly shell shocked like the rest of his school. He learned about Mattie and my loss. He did not dismiss me when I said Mattie died six years ago. Instead, he listened and tried to capture insights from me on how to help those in his community. Of course grief is quite unique to each of us. He mentioned that he is having people send messages and stay in touch with the wives of these two men who died. My advice was to educate others that contacting a bereaved person does not add to the grief. That person is already suffering. It is not reaching out that hurts and dealing with grief in isolation is terrible and compounds the grief. I also mentioned that consistent and long term connections to these wives are important. It shouldn't just stop after the first week or month.
Along my journey, I went to the post office, where our Foundation's mailbox is located. While mailing something, I saw Darryl, our postal employee extraordinaire! I watched Darryl talking to the customer next to me and he told her about Mattie Miracle and handed her one of our brochures. He then mentioned that the co-founder of the Foundation was standing right next to her. Needless to say, when she was leaving the post office, she came up to me to thank me for the work that I do. By training she was a social worker and understood immediately the importance of what we advocate for! She also said that she remembers Mattie and Peter. That caught me off guard. Apparently she worked in a local bicycle store and recalls Mattie and Peter visiting the store. I was VERY impressed with her memory!
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