Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Tuesday, July 7, 2020 -- Mattie died 562 weeks ago today.             Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2009. Mattie was in the physical therapy outpatient clinic at the hospital working with Anna, his PT. The goal back then was to try to rehabilitate Mattie so that he could go back to school in the Fall of 2009. We were naive at that moment in time. Of course a month later, we learned that Mattie's cancer metastasized and therefore the notion of physical therapy, rehabilitation, and the hope for an illusive cure all came to an end. Nonetheless, despite the pain and exhaustion Mattie experienced each day, he tried his best to comply with what was asked of him.

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins. 

• number of people diagnosed with the virus: 2,993,760
• number of people who died from the virus: 131,457 

It is midnight and we are finally back in Washington, DC. It has been a long day. Which started at 6am. It was difficult to leave my parents, as they need a lot of support on a daily basis. Of course without us there, my mom had a difficult day. I know what these days are like and I also know how challenging it is to caregive without hands on support. 

What am I posting a photo of? Try LAX! One of our country's busiest airports. In fact, I call this airport the zoo, because it can take 40 minutes to an hour just to drive into the airport. There is usually terrible traffic. If you don't allot 4 hours before your flight to get there, you typically won't make your flight. 

But thanks to COVID-19 (the only positive), traffic in LA is almost non-existent and the airport was like a ghost town. This was what we saw when we arrived at the airport today. No cars, and not a lot of people! That was glorious and less stressful! But that is where it ended because every seat on the plane was taken. 

This was our view of Los Angeles! If you look closely you can see the Queen Mary in the harbor. She is now a museum and hotel in Long Beach. 

The beauty of the clouds. I typically don't sleep on planes, but I am exhausted and spent more of the time asleep than awake. 

Flying into the Nation's capitol. 

We flew over Georgetown University. I will never forget this astroturf! I stared at it from Mattie's hospital room for months. I grew to hate it and everything it represented. To me the turf represented freedom and life without cancer. Both of which we did not have and I hated being reminded of this fact every time I looked out the window and saw healthy college students playing and living their every day lives.