Sunday, September 19, 2021

Sunday, September 19, 2021

Tonight's picture was taken in May  of 2006. Mattie was four years old and what I love about this photo was the photo within the photo. As you can see, Mattie was holding up a picture of himself as a toddler, standing right next to the same coffee table. As a toddler, the table was at waist height, but by age 4, Mattie was much bigger. His beaming smile shows how pleased and happy he was by his noticeable growth!

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

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 42,087,282
• Number of people who died from the virus: 673,763

It felt like a lost day! Though I wanted to sleep later today, I was up by 7:30am and working. Yesterday was a whirlwind and actually emotionally draining attending a celebration of life ceremony. I have many reflections from the event that I will share later this week. 

Today we devoted the day to trying to hang photos and some art work. This photo display of Mattie was in our DC townhouse. Peter gave it to me one year as a Mother's Day gift. It is something that I cherish and it took us hours placing them on the wall. It it actually much harder to create this display than it may look. 

A close up! There are photos on the wall that cover all ages of Mattie!

We began hanging Mattie art work all over the house. These four are Mattie's flower creations. They were in our kitchen in DC, and now in our kitchen in Oakton. Mattie created them in the outpatient clinic. In so many ways the wonderful things Mattie created with his child life specialist and art therapists have become his legacy. 

Mattie did this composition with a volunteer artist who visited the hospital. I loved it so much that I gave it a red backdrop and black frame. Of course on top of the frame is a Mattie lizard, spider, and some toy cars. 

We finally hung Mr. Sun today! This is a wall we see everyday in the house, and to us it was the perfect space for the creation that is the inspiration for the Foundation logo.

This evening we were invited to our next door neighbor's home for dinner. They moved into the house a few weeks before us. They have two teenage children, who are lovely. However, here is the difference between parents, who are actively parenting, and parents like ourselves who lost a child to cancer. Our house is filled with memories and creations. In fact, I am sure if people visited us, who did not know our story, I am sure they would think we are raising a 7 year old. For us time has stopped or stood still, whereas for active parents, they don't need the things and reminders, because their child is ever present.