Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2009. I will never forget this moment in time. Mattie's child life specialist, Linda, invited Mattie to take part in the ribbon cutting event of the child life playroom. When we first entered the hospital in August of 2008, there was NO playroom in the pediatric units. Not until several months into Mattie's treatment, when a playroom was actually funded and constructed. Once it was built, it was one of Mattie's favorite places to visit. Linda understood what the room meant to us and she definitely understood that Mattie thrived on responsibility. He loved being a part of that special day and using a big scissor to cut the ribbon on the door. Pictured around Mattie was the chief of pediatrics at the time and the current president of the Hospital, Michael Sachtleben.


Quote of the day: The only good thing about times of adversity is that you realize who your real friends and fans are – and the rest go away – which in my mind is an OK thing. ~ Pete Wentz

I went to visit my friend Margy today who was diagnosed at the end of January with stage 4 ovarian cancer. Margy has already survived thyroid cancer, and is a cancer survivor in her own right. 

Margy's sister, Nancy, is in town this week visiting her. So I got to meet Nancy for the first time. However, Nancy and I have communicated numerous times by email, as she is a faithful donor to Mattie Miracle. It was lovely to meet her in person and I am impressed with the love and support being shown to Margy. Because unfortunately Peter and I have learned that adversity doesn't always bring out the best in people. 

Margy's husband takes a selfie of all of us each time we visit. I am so happy he does this because I think every aspect of the cancer journey is worth chronicling and photographing. It serves as a remind of what you have experienced and managed through, but at the end of the day, these visuals serve as our legacy. 

When I took photos of Mattie, I never thought I was doing that out of fear he was dying. Instead, I photographed each day because he was living and to me every aspect of Mattie's life was worth documenting. I did this when he was well, so I just continued my memory making while he had cancer. As I always say..... thankfully I did this, because now these photos of all his seven years are priceless to us. 

As I left Margy's house tonight, look who was greeting me!!!! A large Mattie moon. I took that as a sign! Or as Margy would say this was a "Godwink."

I heard her use this term today and I stopped her! Mainly because I never heard it before, so I looked it up. 

A Godwink is what some people would call a coincidence, an answered prayer, or simply an experience where you'd say, "Wow, what are the odds of that!"


What do Godwinks mean? Think about when you were a kid and someone you loved gave you a little wink across the dining room table ... Mom or Dad or Grandma. You didn't say, "What do you mean by that?" You knew. It meant: "Hey kid, I'm thinking about you right now." That's what a Godwink is too: a message of reassurance from above, directly to you, out of seven billion people on the planet, saying "Hey kid ... I'm thinking of you! Keep the faith! You're never alone."