Monday, March 12, 2018

Monday, March 12, 2018

Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2004. In a way it is a follow up to last night's photo. We took Mattie to the DC Children's Museum and Mattie spent some time visiting the room with the vehicles. No surprise to us, as Mattie was BIG into anything with wheels. As you can see Mattie blended right into the fire truck. A favorite Mattie vehicle!


Quote of the day: My mother said to me, “If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general, if you become a monk you’ll end up as the pope.” Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso. ~ Pablo Picasso


I posted tonight's quote because reading it made me laugh! Given that I have taught kindergartners about Picasso for several years now, this statement seems so fitting for his personality. 

A couple of Mother's Days ago, I received a hyacinth. It is a beautiful flowering plant, that is derived from a bulb. After the flower died off Peter planted the bulb, in Mattie's memorial garden, in our commons area. Look what came out today to greet us? Mind you, it was grey and frigid outside!!! 

Why do I have Anthem's logo on the blog? Well because I am proud to say that Anthem has just agreed to be a Mattie Miracle Level sponsor of the upcoming Walk & Family Festival. We are very grateful for their $5,000 contribution. 

Peter and I have been working with Anthem for over a year now. Anthem is very interested in the Psychosocial Standards of Care, which were Mattie's vision. We look forward to working with Anthem on developing ways to implement the Standards within their health plans. The beauty of this is once we start working with one big private insurer, my hope is that others will also take notice and want to get involved with the implementation process. Personally it would be lovely if congress would mandate the Standards, but given the slow pace of progress within the government (regardless of who is in office), I know that the way to evoke change starts on a totally different level. Which is why reaching out to Anthem is key. 

Needless to say, I told Anthem that they made my day and perhaps my MONTH. The Mattie Miracle level of sponsorship, is our highest level of support. We have been fortunate to have TeraThink as our Mattie Miracle Level sponsor since 2011. They are committed to us and our mission and it is thanks to them that we have been able to accomplish so many Mattie Miracles. I am deeply honored to have two Mattie Miracle Level supporters for this year's Walk. I feel this achievement for the Foundation is a direct reflection on its track record and on our vision for the future of cancer healthcare.