Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2009. Mattie was in the outpatient physical therapy clinic. This mess was taking place within a session. Anna (PT) and Linda (child life) were working with Mattie to get him to use and exercise his legs. Naturally if you asked Mattie to do traditional exercises, the answer would be no! But if you threw in shaving cream and the opportunity to make a mess, he was all in! I always say that Mattie encouraged all of us to think outside the box and to rise to the occasion.
Quote of the day: What a painful thing to taste forever in the eyes of someone who doesn’t see the same. ~ Perry Poetry
This morning, I got up at 5:15am, in order to get everything done before the Verizon tech visit. Our tech came at 9:15am and what an amazing fellow. Abdullah was fantastic. His family is originally from the Bronx, NY, so we immediately connected, because that is where my parents were born. Abdullah identified my cable issues and fortunately I did the right thing by scheduling this repair. As this issue was NOT going to be corrected on its own, and couldn't be addressed remotely either. Abdullah and I walked through each cable box, he helped to reprogram my TVs and even gave me his business card. So I now can contact him directly as well as his supervisor. We need to clone Abdullah! When I experience stable, kind, and capable people, it transforms my day. It also restores my negative view point on humanity.
Since this appointment went so well, I had time this morning to go grocery shopping while my dad's physical therapist was giving him a session at home. The grocery store was featuring 80s music today! It literally brought me back to a better time in my life. Some songs I remember from high school and others from college. Fortunately I did not know what a disaster my life was going to be back then. Instead, I grew up in a loving and very happy home, and one would have thought that this happiness would have traveled with me throughout adulthood. So what started out as a positive visit to the grocery store, turned out to be a bittersweet journey down memory lane. As I shop, I naturally pass things I would have gotten for Peter and for my Sunny. Both gone from my life. Just way too much trauma and loss.
When I got home, I wanted to put away groceries! However, my dad's physical therapist started in on me. She had suggestions about adding another railing on our staircase! Truly YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING! I am on overload on every front, paying bills and keeping this house afloat, do you honestly think I want to hear about a stair railing?! The answer in NO! Instead, I told her I will have him go up the stairs at night sideways. A technique he learned when he was in the hospital. We go down the stairs sideways together, so now I will just have him reverse the process. My dad doesn't negotiate stairs alone anyway. I have a gait belt around him and guide him through the process.
- 80's music.
- Abdullah and kind, customer focused professionals.
- Continuing education on sale! My mental health license is up for renewal this December, and with that, I need more CEUs. I received a flyer in the mail today and was able to purchase several trainings that are right up my alley.
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