Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2008. Mattie was in treatment for about a month at that point. The computer you see in front of Mattie was given to him by his technology teacher at school. Mattie and Mary had a special connection, so much so that Mary visited Mattie every week in the hospital to teach him a few lessons on the computer. However, Mary quickly deduced that Mattie really did not have the energy or ability to focus on school work. So instead in those moments, she played with Mattie. I can recall that one day Mattie was building a huge apartment building in his room out of a large packing box. This was NO ordinary box, as Mattie was designing an elevator with a pulley system. Mary jumped into whatever activity Mattie was involved in, which I really appreciated. While Mary interacted with Mattie for an hour, I would leave the room and sit in the hallway. It was an hour to myself to regroup. I will always remember Mary's kindness. In fact, Mattie recorded a message to me on this computer, and about two years ago, Mary downloaded it and sent it to me. I have it, but I have yet to listen to it. Videos that involve voice are actually harder to view than photos.
Quote of the day: I hope today as we commemorate the 16th anniversary of 9/11, everyone will stop for a moment and remember all the people who gave their lives that day. ~ Magaly Lemagne (lost her brother, a NJ Police Officer on 9/11)
Naturally high school students (and younger) today, for the most part weren't even born when 9/11 happened and have no personal understanding to how our Country was impacted and the chaos that unfolded from that day. Cities shut down. Not for just a day, but days and weeks. Airplanes all over the Country were grounded. Stores and banks closed, and DC looked like a ghost town. People were afraid to go back onto planes for quite some time after that, as we never had an attack like this in our history, in which terrorists used our own planes against us to cause death and harm to thousands of people.
To all my animal lover friends, check out this 9/11 hero. This is a video of Bretagne (pronounced Brittany), the LAST 9/11 search and rescue dog walking into the vet's office for the last time with a hero's salute. She would have turned 17 in August.
May we never forget this day..... the 3,000 fellow Americans who lost their lives, the rescue workers who sacrificed themselves to save others and remain affected both physically and mentally, and for all the families and friends left behind and forever changed.
Last Search & Rescue Dog from 9/11 put to sleep (Bretagne)
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