Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2009. We were given tickets to see a Nats baseball game. So we took Mattie to the stadium and I will never forget that day. For two reasons. The first was that there were several army representatives at the game handing out t-shirts to the public. One fellow took one look at Mattie and walked over and gave him an "Army Strong" shirt. He felt that Mattie deserved it. The other reason that I remember so vividly was how people were staring at Mattie. You would have thought we did something grossly wrong with the stares and whispers we were receiving. Peter and I weren't the only ones to notice, Mattie did as well and it left me feeling like I wanted to give everyone around me a talking to.
Quote of the day: Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards. ~ Vladimir Nabokov
This quote truly makes me laugh because I think we have all had quite enough of rain in the DC area. We are going on three weeks of rain so far and it isn't only tiring, it is depressing.
A few years ago I created this Faces of Hope project, in which I contacted families who have a child either in treatment or in the survivorship stage of the journey. We received the consent from 26 parents and we proudly display these photos each year. I feel it is important to remind people why they are walking. Because REAL children (not just in theory) get cancer and the psychosocial impacts of treatment affect both the child and the entire family.
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