Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2005. Mattie was three years old. That Saturday we took him to one of the Smithsonian museums which had a butterfly house. While walking about, an orange butterfly landed on Mattie's hand! Butterflies were attracted to Mattie. What were the chances this butterfly would be orange? Now looking at this photo, it seems symbolic to me, that Mattie was indeed a Mattie Miracle and even the butterflies knew it.
Quote of the day: I don’t know why they call it heartbreak. It feels like every other part of my body is broken too. ~ Terri Guillemets
This morning, I got up at 5:15am because the HVAC repair person was scheduled to come between 8am and noon. Given that it could be 8am when the tech showed up, I had to have it together, breakfast made, and my dad up, washed, and dressed. Fortunately my dad went to his memory care program today, because it is hard to juggle him and repair people at the same time. While driving back from the center, I went to the post office and the Fedex store, and was listening to the radio. This woman on the radio was talking about her mother, who died several years ago. She was telling the audience that her parents separated and divorced over 25 years ago, but that her mother never got over the divorce. However, on her mother's death bed, her ex-husband showed up, held her hand and told her that he always loved her and that he made a big mistake leaving her. I listened carefully as I was curious of the daughter's reaction!
The daughter thought it was the most special gift her dad gave her mom. Want to know my reaction? My reaction was that this wasn't a gift to his dying wife, this instead was a gift he gave himself. He wanted a clean conscious and he did not want to miss the opportunity in a way to be forgiven. Yes that maybe a cynical reaction on my part, but in all reality, hearing the fact that she was loved served her no purpose as she was dying, especially as she was living with a broken heart for 25 years! Living and navigating life with a broken heart is earth shattering. So much so that I believe it has long term consequences on one's physical and mental health. Who knows how the ramifications of this divorce played out in this woman's life or whether it may have contributed to her early demise.
After listening to this story, I then headed back home. It was early in the morning, around the time children are picked up by school buses for school. Well that reality also hit me hard. I could see countless parents at each of the corners waiting with their children. All the parents seemed to be socializing and from my perspective seemed so NORMAL! Of course I realize I can't judge a book by its cover, but I would deal with just about anything in order to have Mattie back and to know that my marriage was not a farce.
Long story short, it wasn't a good morning. But the fun continued. I came home and realized I better call the HVAC company because I received no text message updates at arrival time. Literally I called the company three times. Each time I was more livid than the time before, especially since this was the third time I rescheduled this appointment in a week. By the third call today, I found out the tech wasn't coming until the 4pm to 7pm time frame. Which actually was a blessing since by 1pm, my mom gets squirrely and waits to go out. Thankfully the timing worked and I was able to take her out. The tech eventually came at 5pm. I knew her, as she had serviced my house before.
What was the issue? Something simple! I apparently put batteries in the thermostat the wrong way! That was totally embarrassing and frankly I normally wouldn't make this error, but I am tired and on overload. Most people who come in the house can see the circus show I am balancing and the tech normalized this mistake for me! A kind soul.
Three things I am grateful today:
- A beautiful sunny day.
- Arlene, the kind HVAC tech!
- Sitting outside on the porch with Indie, while waiting for dinner to cook. Indie sits in the exact same place on the couch that once belonged to Sunny! You can't say that is by coincidence!
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