Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2007. Mattie was five years old and by that point LOVED going to Fall Festivals. Our DC area has many of them. In fact, Peter and I were just talking about this today, as we were driving out to Frederick, Maryland for the day. This car trip reminded us of the countless times we took Mattie to Butler's Orchard. Which does an incredible Fall Festival and also a wonderful Bunnyland, at Easter time.
This photo was taken at Leesburg's animal park. Back then, the festival did not have a fancy name. Now it is called Pumpkin Village. Initially when we took Mattie to these types of Fall Festivals, he did not want to go down the hay slides. But you can see by age five he conquered that fear big time!
Quote of the day: Every new friend is a new adventure… the start of more memories. ~ Patrick Lindsay
We met at this spectacular 19th century brownstone mansion, which housed a restaurant called Volt.
The food was amazing! In fact, it was better than most restaurants in DC! The food was beautifully presented and truly not ordinary. But paired so well and left a memorable impression on the diner. Then of course it was also matched by chatting with new friends. I think what fascinates me about making new friends is you see yourself through their eyes. These are people who really don't know us personally, they never met Mattie, and they don't know our story. Yet as we talked and shared with them our mission and work, we got their feedback. Naturally I was not looking for feedback, just simply sharing how I spend our days. What amazed me is through their lens, I was left to pause and acknowledge...... wow, look at what we are doing, in such a short period of time, on a limited budget, and living each day with great grief. Not sure why it takes strangers for me to hear this reality, but it registered today.
1 comment:
Vicki, What a beautiful post. I am so glad, the meeting of new friends, telling them about Mattie & Mattie Miracle left you with such a positive experience. You are doing amazing things for childhood cancer, living full on heavy grief with out Mattie, and making great strides with Mattie Miracle. Sometimes, it is very true, seeing our life, what we are doing, can leave us with such a positive feeling. I am so glad to know this was your day.
Your trips, whoever you go, even to Frederick, Maryland always make me wish, you would plan an excursion for us.
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