Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Tuesday, August 17, 2021 -- Mattie died 620 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2008. By that point, Mattie was in treatment for about a month. Long enough for his art therapists to know that he loved to create. That day, they set Mattie up in the clinic with different colored glazes. If you notice there were handprints out of pottery on the table. Mattie created several prints and pieces of pottery for us over his 14 month cancer journey. I am sure this did not cross his therapists' minds at the time, but all of Mattie's creations have become part of his legacy. I am grateful he was so creative, as his pieces are definitely an expression of who he was. 

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

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 36,998,063
• Number of people who died from the virus: 623,249

Another day, not unlike the day before. Trying to go through items and determine whether to keep, toss, or donate them. 

I went through several bureaus today and also took our photographs off the wall. The wall looks very barren now. 

Peter and I went to several Paint Nights together. He painted the picture on top and I painted the big Mattie moon. 

One day a friend of mine from zumba class invited me to a watercolor class. Wow that was something, and not something good. Watercolor is VERY difficult to use, especially if you are a novice. I have NO idea why popular first art sets for children use watercolor. In any case, this was my attempt at a boat along the Maine coastline!

I found these pajamas in my bureau today. Of course they were Mattie's. Want to know why they were cut in half? These were the pajamas Mattie was wearing in the hospital on the day he died. In order to clean Mattie's body and literally put him in a body bag to go to the hospital morgue, they first had to cut off his pajamas. Having to live through just this alone, it is a wonder that I am sane at all. 

Two of my favorite Christmas sweaters of Mattie. At age 2 and at age 4. I folded them today and I am donating them. Some other family should have the opportunity to enjoy them. 

Mattie's Legoland t-shirt. A place Mattie absolutely loved visiting. 

In my nightstand, I keep Mattie's tooth fairy box. This is not something I am parting with, as I remember purchasing this box with him when we were on one of our Florida's trips. 

Of course not box is complete without a Mattie tooth!

I began working on cleaning out our kitchen today. In one of the containers I keep on our oven, I found this party blower. This was from Mattie's third birthday party. 

Believe it or not, in the kitchen, we saved a piece of our old lemon tree. We loved that tree, but it died while Mattie was undergoing cancer treatment. 

Attached to my pot rack was Scooby Doo. A friend gave Mattie this particular Scooby Doo and for the longest time it was attached to Mattie's wheelchair during his cancer treatment. I think digging out and moving is challenging, but our move has a whole other level of complexity to it that is hard to describe.