Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Tuesday, August 31, 2021 -- Mattie died 622 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2002. Mattie was four months old and by that point he loved his entertainment saucer. It was the only device that I could leave Mattie in for a few minutes and have my two hands free. Mattie loved being able to move around independently as the chair turned 360 degrees, and of course he loved all the gadgets that made noise on the saucer. 

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

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 39,171,259
• Number of people who died from the virus: 639,730

Another busy day on the Farm. If I am supposed to be having fun and enjoying this house, it isn't happening. It is non-stop work, and it is impossible for me to get to my emails, much less my Mattie Miracle work. 

On Sunday, I found a hummingbird feeder that I had. Given that I am seeing hummingbirds around, I decided to put it out on Sunday. If you look closely on the right, you will see a little brown colored hummingbird at the feeder. 

When I went out to walk Sunny this morning, we ran into our next door neighbor. Ironically neighbors on both sides of us are new. They purchased their homes a few months after us. Any case, this woman has four children and some with special needs. She is worried that her kids will be making too much noise when they eventually move in. Peter and I know something about special needs, so I think we alleviated her fears. But she has extensive work to do on her house and won't be moving in for a year. She took us inside, and after seeing her home, I am not sure how she is going to manage this renovation and four children. 

I spent a good portion of the day trying to go through boxes and things. The office is filled with book shelves. I did put some books out but instead, I am using the shelves to feature Mattie memories and Mattie creations. 

This set of shelves features so many things, from Mattie's Lego Taj Mahal, his pumpkin created out of clay, his clay figure of a boy in a wheelchair, his painting that says Love Mommy, and his Empire State Building to name a few.

This set of shelves has many of the Mattie Miracle awards we have earned, I dedicated a corner of memorabilia from our wedding, the plaque from the Washington Post of Mattie's obituary, some of his favorite shells, and I even have a red box with Patches ashes. Nurse Patches was an amazing cat and so good with Mattie. They loved each other and Mattie wanted to see Patches before he died, but the hospital would not allow her to come in.

I learned today that Peter will be traveling for business on Mattie's 12th anniversary of his death. In addition he will be gone for this Take the Plunge Challenge on September 9th. So I feel a lot of pressure to get the house unpacked, organized, and to figure out what I will say for this on line contest. 

I think I have been so busy with contractors and unpacking that I haven't been focused on our DC apartment and saying good-bye to what was a part of our life for 27 years. However, tonight the phone rang and it was our long-time neighbors in DC. They wanted to know if they would be seeing us again, and told us that our garden area now looks so empty! Hearing this made me come to terms with reality. The reality for me is I miss my DC space, the things that I have taken for granted as being so familiar, and the sites and sounds of the city. When and if Peter went away, I knew people in DC all around me, and I always knew I could call our front desk and in a minute, help would be on the way. I do not have this same security here and for me this is a huge adjustment.