A Remembrance Video of Mattie

Thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive!

Dear Mattie Blog Readers,

It means a great deal to me that you take the time to write and to share your thoughts, feelings, and reflections on Mattie's battle and death. Your messages are very meaningful and help support me through very challenging times. I am forever grateful. As my readers know, I promised to write the blog for a year after Mattie's death, which would mean that I could technically have stopped writing on September 9, 2010. However, like my journey with grief there is so much that still needs to be processed and fortunately I have a willing support network still committed to reading. Therefore, the blog continues on. If I should find the need to stop writing, I assure you I will give you advanced notice. In the mean time, thank you for reading, thank you for having the courage to share this journey with me, and most importantly thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive.


As Mattie would say, Ooga Booga (meaning, I LOVE YOU)! Vicki



February 12, 2022

Saturday, February 12, 2022

Saturday, February 12, 2022

Tonight's picture was taken in February of 2009. Mattie was admitted to the hospital that day. I can tell because on admission days, Mattie actually wore clothes. Unlike regular hospital days when he was in pajamas (his choice!). That day a former student of mine, Pam, came to visit us while we were in the child life playroom. As you can tell, Mattie wasn't happy. By this point in time, Mattie was very traumatized, and did not like visitors and most definitely did not people pulling my attention away from him. I balanced Mattie's moods every time people came to visit us. Since Mattie was a child, and I knew how important community support was to our existence, I tried very hard to accommodate visits and Mattie's needs. But it was a very, very hard balancing act, that I did not always win. I am saddened that now both people in this photo are death. 


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

  • Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 77,701,600
  • Number of people who died from the virus: 919,172


We went out for an early dinner tonight to Clyde's of Reston. This restaurant isn't that far from our home. The Clyde's restaurant group has been a part of our family since Mattie went to preschool. Back then, there was a Clyde's up the block from Mattie's school in Alexandria. When my parents would visit from California, after we picked Mattie up from school, we would go for lunch at Clyde's. We were such regulars there, that we got to know the executive chef, Becca. For years, Becca catered the food at Mattie Miracle walks. 

Since we moved to Oakton, VA, the Clyde's at Reston is our closest venue. The beauty of Clyde's is you are going to get a good and consistent product, with wonderful service, and in a lovely atmosphere. Since my parents came to live with us, we are frequent weekly flyers at Clyde's. We have gotten to know many of the wonderful staff at this Clyde's. 

I am beyond stunned that one of our favorite servers today told us that Clyde's of Reston is closing after 31 years of service. Check out this article. The closing has nothing to do with COVID, but I happy to hear that they are designing a whole new venue from the ground up in the Reston area. It will take two years to be developed, but in the mean time, I will truly miss this wonderful spot so close to home.


Posted by The Brown Family (DC) at 6:28 PM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)