Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2009. That evening, Mattie and his friend Abbie met up in the Lego store at the local mall. The special part about this was it was after hours and they were the only two kids in the store. The two fellows you see here are master Lego builders and they came to the store to meet Mattie and to build a project of his choosing with him. Since Mattie was a huge Lego fan, his child life specialist, arranged for this special evening. In a way it was like Mattie's last wish. It was a memorable evening. Mattie was happy and decided he wanted to build a NYC taxi from scratch. He did not want to use a Lego kit. Ironically that may have been because in treatment we completed every Lego kit that came out in 2008 and part of 2009. We took Mattie to New York City twice for experimental treatment and it was there that the YELLOW taxi caught his attention. To this day, we have Mattie's Lego yellow taxi in our living room. 

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

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 36,119,200
• Number of people who died from the virus: 618,585

Peter and Sunny went to the house today, and I stayed behind in DC. Peter was juggling work, the wood refinishers, the electrician, and the HVAC guy. Naturally more issues have been found and the electricians cut a huge hole in the wall between the garage and laundry room. When I tell you I just can't take one more issue, I am not kidding. 

My focus was on clothes closets today. But before dealing with that, I snapped some photos of the rooms in our townhouse. Peter and I personally hand painted every room in our home. We even installed the tile in the kitchen ourselves. We have been very hands on here and loved the space we were in. Peter even built the white cabinet that holds my platters and microwave. The kitchen has a very Mattie Miracle color palate.

All along the walls in our kitchen are hot plate tiles. Each place we visited, I brought back a souvenir tile. Our walls tell a story about the places we have been!

In addition to my tile collection, I always collect magnets. Magnets of places we have been. I have quite an extensive collection. 

My hot plate tiles!

The wall above our kitchen table features Mattie art. Everything, but the butterfly, was created by him!

Our open concept living and dining rooms. When Mattie was alive, these rooms were filled with toys, books, and all sorts of trains, cars, and gadgets. 

I call this "my room with a view." I absolutely LOVE the floor to ceiling windows. Not to mention the big oak tree outside the windows. Mattie and I used to pick oak leaves in the spring to feed to his tent moth caterpillars. Apparently oak was the only thing they liked eating. 

Our dining room! You can see Mattie's "Mr. Sun" painting. It is a huge piece, but it was the inspiration for the Foundation's logo. Our dining room set actually belonged to our neighbors. They moved about two years ago back to Ireland, and they sold me the entire set (with extra leaves) for $200. 

The paintings on the wall were done by Mattie. They were in abstract series!

I love this floating staircase. I think it was popular in the 70s, but apparently it is making a come back. In any case, the staircase wall features Mattie throughout the years.

You probably noticed that our walls have Tuscan toned colors, or in essence Mattie Miracle colors. Our hallway has a golden beige color and our living and dining room have a subtle Tuscan orange color. 

When we moved in the walls were an off white color. We kept them that way for a long time. After Mattie died, we painted the walls bright colors. We needed this for our own mental health. 

I receive this is not everyone's favorite color, but it is mine. I love that Victorian rose look. Our bedroom wall features many of the wonderful photos Peter has taken over the years. 

Our second floor hallway. 

A close up of one of my closets. What I am trying to show you are the shelves. Peter literally built in wooden shelves on the side for my sweaters and wired shelves up top for other things. Here's the irony of all of this, I think Mattie's room in our townhouse has better closets than the house we are moving to. I just loved the three closets I have been working out of for 26 years! 

In my closets, I still had Mattie clothes and shoes. Items that I just couldn't part with. Now 12 years later, I am able to donate even more shoes and clothes, because I realize these are only things, they aren't Mattie. Clearly those items that I truly associate with Mattie I kept. But others are getting donated. 

Mattie used to line all his shoes up on our staircase. Kind of like this! So in tribute to Mattie, I lined some of his shoes on the staircase that Peter built for Sunny. 

Mattie used to wear these shoes to kindergarten. 

Now this is a more complicated photo. These were Mattie's sandals. They were chewed up by JJ, our once resident Jack Russell Terrier. When Mattie died, JJ came into our apartment, walked up to Mattie's room, grabbed the sandals and took them back to his crate in my neighbor's townhouse. For years the sandals remained in JJ's crate, until one day, his owner gave them back to me. JJ missed Mattie, as they grew up together. Both JJ and our cat Patches showed me first hand that animals do indeed grieve. 

I had no idea that I kept Mattie's jacket, dress pants, and ties. Mattie needed these items for his school's chapel. Two times a year, the children had to dress up more formally for a special chapel. I will never forget learning about this in December of 2007. It was Mattie's first Christmas chapel at his school and I had NO IDEA that the children had to get dressed up. I recall two days before the event scrambling and running around to department stores finding Mattie appropriate clothes. I will never forget his cut snowflake tie for the winter and a red tie for the spring. 

In 2004, Mattie dressed up at Winnie the Pooh for Halloween. I will never forget this costume or how cute Mattie looked in it!

I also had two coats in my closet that belonged to me when I was 7 years old. My mom sent them to me years ago. I remember this red coat, as it was my favorite!

This was my Easter coat when I was 7 years old. 

In one of my closets I found this letter I had written to the band who played at our wedding. I actually sang a song to Peter at our wedding reception and this letter is informing the band on my choice and decision. It says:

Dear Maryann,

I have enclosed a copy of the music "my guy" with the lyrics that I plan to sing with it. I would like the band to do the back up parts. These part are underlined. I have also enclosed a print out of the lyrics without music. Please inform the band for me that this is a surprise for Peter, my fiancé. He has no idea that I am planning this. I would like to do this song right before it is time to cut the cake, if that is alright with the band. In addition, it is possible that a few of my friends might be doing back up as well behind me on the dance floor. Thank you for your assistance and have a great summer. 

Here are the lyrics I wrote to the song, "my guy:"

#1

Peter can you believe that finally today we're married

Just 6 years ago, would you have imagined we'd marry

When we first met at Union College we got to know each other and, we were goners

I just want to tell ya how happy I am that we're married

#2

Peter I decided it was finally my turn to surprise you

I knew you'd never suspect that I was planning to surprise you

But I felt it was important to express myself, and let everyone know that you're my true love

You best be believing that I am so happy we're married 

#3

As a couple who has travelled from Schenectady, New York and landed up living in Washington, DC, I must say that we have muddled through whatever life has, dished out and given, has in store for us.

#4

So Peter my dear this is just a little song to remind you

When things get tough you will always have me beside you

Our parents are examples that prove to us, that with work and understanding, love's forever.

I just want to tell ya how happy I am that we're married. 

This is the state of affairs in Mattie's room. I have bags to donate, piles to go through, and things to just trash.