Thursday, December 12, 2019

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Tonight's picture was taken on December 27, 2008. We took Mattie to the light show at the National Zoo. It was a first for all of us. Pictured with Mattie were his cousins, who were visiting from Boston, and several friends from preschool. 



Quote of the day: There can't be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full. ~ Henry Kissinger

Peter's mom is up and actively taking part in physical therapy. Her therapy schedule sounds like she is in boot camp!

Keep in mind that she had a pacemaker inserted on December 2 and then had 
t4-8 spinal fusion surgery on December 6. Now in less that one week she is up, walking around, and climbing steps.

She is scheduled to be sent home on December 23. She will receive nursing care, and occupational and physical therapy at home. Meanwhile we are securing other services like snow removal and house keeping in order to make her transition home possible.  

I had a full day planned of Foundation work and chores. However, while walking Sunny this morning, I noticed the color of his urine. He looked a deep orange, as if blood was being passed. Needless to say, I freaked out. When I am tired, like I am now, I can go from calm to panic in two seconds. While walking Sunny, I called his vet, who of course wanted to see him.

So I scrambled to get Sunny to the vet. Poor thing did not know what hit him, as he got catheterized and examined. The samples the vet took looked fine. So in addition to a urine analysis, he is also culturing the sample. I have been asked to catch Sunny's urine too and bring it back to the vet. This should entertaining, running around after Sunny with a specimen collection pan!

Later in the afternoon, I visited Mattie's school. As I wanted to make sure Mattie's memorial trees were decorated for Christmas. Given all the struggles we have had with Mattie's memorial tree, it is ironic that we now have THREE live memorial trees. Which is remarkable because we were sure that the trees were dying at one time. This is why the school continued to plant a new tree. My joke is Mattie has a grove, not just one tree. I put ribbons on all three trees and decorate two of them (mainly because they stand right next to each other).

This is the official memorial tree with the dedication plaque. The tree has butterflies, gold ornaments, and cupcake ornaments. 

This is the second tree. It is located right next to the one pictured above. I decorated it for Christmas and kept the donut ornaments on the tree. These were in honor of of Mattie's birthday in April. I love seeing the donuts blowing around in the wind. 

You see the two trees are side by side. They are on either side of the green bench. While I was cleaning up and decorating the trees, several kids were playing on the school's playground. Mind you it was freezing out. 

One mom drove her car up to where I was, got out and went into the school building. The next thing I knew she came out with three children in tow. Clearly she was in a hurry as the kids couldn't keep up with her pace. She told them she did not park her car in a parking space, but instead just pulled over. Her son, who was very young, said to her.... God sees everything we do. Basically he was asking her about God and what he'd think of her parking (or lack there of) decision. As she was not in a parking space and was actually parked in a way that could block traffic. In all reality, her son's question was very sensitive and he was trying to understand a difficult concept... the notion of God and how God view's our actions and behaviors. Honestly it was a very teachable moment, because her child initiated the topic and was interested in hearing a response to his question. He never got one. Instead, he got a lot of yelling, and was told to get into the car. I was listening to all of this and was actually ready to yell at her. How is it that I don't have a son anymore..... just a memorial tree, and yet this mom has three children and isn't paying attention to any of them!!! It just set me off.  

Let me introduce you to "Charlie Brown." This is what I call this tree. It was the second memorial tree planted in Mattie's honor. This tree never did well, but it is still hanging in there. I affectionately call it Charlie, because it reminds of the pathetic little tree in the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. Any case, even Charlie got a Christmas bow.