Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Tuesday, June 25, 2019 -- Mattie died 509 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2002. Mattie was three months old and to me Mattie looked much more like Peter as a baby. As Mattie became a toddler and definitely by preschool, he looked just like me. 





Quote of the day: Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change. ~ Wayne Dyer

Peter drove from Oklahoma City to Tulsa, for his meetings there tomorrow. While on his drive, he traversed the famous Route 66. Peter knows how I am fascinated by 66's history and perhaps I just like nostalgia. But why specifically? Naturally there is a Mattie link! Keep reading. 

U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66), also known as the Will Rogers Highway, the Main Street of America or the Mother Road, was one of the original highways in the U.S. Highway System. US 66 was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles. US 66 underwent many improvements and realignments over its lifetime, but was officially removed from the United States Highway System in 1985 after it had been replaced in its entirety by segments of the Interstate Highway System. Portions of the road that passed through Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, and Arizona have been communally designated a National Scenic Byway of the name "Historic Route 66," returning the name to some maps.

I absolutely LOVED the photos Peter sent to me! As soon as I saw them, what immediately popped into my head was the James Taylor song, Our Town. This song was featured in the movie Cars. I can't tell you how many times Peter and I watched this movie with Mattie. It was a movie we saw hundreds of times. I attached the clip of this song from the movie below. 

The song captures the pain of change beautifully. In the case of the movie, they were talking about how Route 66 was America's road! Thanks to the Mother Road, towns and communities flourished and catered to motorists. However, with the invention of the Interstate, Route 66 became obsolete. As did the many of the towns and stores. 

It is amazing how the brain associates things together. For me.... Route 66, the movie Cars, and Mattie are heavily intertwined. James Taylor's song touches my heart because it reminds me that things constantly change. Nothing stays the same. Not just with things, but with people too. As when I first saw the movie Cars in 2006, it would never have dawned on me that Mattie wouldn't be in my life three years later. 

The iconic signs along Route 66 capture my attention. It is a bit of history, or perhaps the nostalgia of simpler times. Where people had less, and yet seemed happier. 

I am saddened that we never had the opportunity to show Mattie Route 66, as I know he would have absolutely loved seeing and experiencing it. 

Who would have known that Route 66 and the song Our Town, could trigger such strong memories. But ironically they do! It all reminds me of Mattie and the terrible change we continue to endure each day with his loss. 


Our Town:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbHbRipzRgE