"Remember to play after every storm" by Mattie J.T. Stepanek

You may remember Mattie J.T Stepanek as the adorable young boy who wrote "heart songs" and poetry to inspire others all while battling a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy. He appeared on Oprah and met with Jimmy Carter and several other well known people. Mattie died 4 years ago at the age of 13, and today was the dedication of his park here in Rockville. King Farm, the neighborhood where we live, is also where Mattie lived with his mother. His mother's house is across from the park which was once a grassy field but is now a beautiful playground area with tennis courts, basketball courts, walking paths and now a little "peace garden" in memory of Mattie.

Jillian and I play at his playground several times each week and have been fortunate to watch the park develop over the past year. We saw the men building Mattie's peace garden and were lucky to watch the statues being placed last week in preparation of the celebration. The benches surrounding the park have Mattie's poems on them and there's a solar powered podium where you can push buttons to hear Mattie reading his own poetry to you. It's really such a special place and I feel so fortunate to be able to visit the park any day and to teach Jillian about his message of peace and about how special Mattie was.

The dedication today was AMAZING! There were people from all over the country here to speak about Mattie and to celebrate his message of peace. Mattie's mother Jeni spoke a little about Mattie and her hopes for this park. She said her biggest hope is that when people visit the park they will take a little of Mattie and his message of peace with them. Oprah was there too! She made a surprise appearance to say a few words about Mattie and to help dedicate the park. Lucky for me, I was about 3 feet away from Oprah during the statue unveiling...and got a great pose from her as we waited for the ribbon cutting. It was really special to see her there since she has spoken about Mattie several times on her show. No one knew Oprah was due to attend so everyone was quite surprised and pleased to see her.

We had a great time at the park today. I can't wait to go back and really spend time showing Jillian the statue and letting her hear Mattie read the poems.

Here's a picture of Mattie that I found on his website: www.mattieonline.com

Everyone gathered around to hear the speeches:

The peace garden wall says "Peace is possible...it can begin simply over a game of chess or a cup of tea."

This bench plaque says: "Remember to listen to the music inside your heart for it is music sent from the spirit."

The park dedication plaque:

Oprah!

All the people listening to Oprah talk:

Oprah standing with Mattie's mother Jeni, who also has adult onset muscular dystrophy and has lost all 4 of her children to the disease:

I was so close to Oprah that I could have tapped her shoulder (that's her security man in the million dollar suit!):

This woman is the sculptor who created the statue (and the mini statue:)

Jillian colored her own "Peace rock" as a souvenir:

And then we danced, bounced, and played at the park for a few hours: