A Visit From Uncle Matthew

Uncle Matthew came up this way from Texas two weeks ago. He's been on a month long road trip from Austin and he stayed with us for several days on his way up to Montana (his final destination). He stayed with us again for a couple of nights on his way back down south. We all had a great time while he was here and it was sad saying goodbye...twice.

Matthew and I were room mates for one semester of school. But I was so young and the four year age gap between us still seemed huge. He was more of a fatherly figure during that time, not really a friend. He spent a lot of time trying to whip my butt into shape to get me to be more responsible.

I never get to visit with him one on one anymore. This visit was great because I felt I learned a lot about him that I never knew before. We stayed up very late many nights talking about all kinds of issues and discussing our childhoods. One night we even pulled out some old home movies (per HIS request!) It was a lot of fun and I'm grateful for the time we got to spend together. We live in different worlds and have very different lives, but I love him a lot and I'm so glad he's my big brother.

I was sad to see him go, but we've got plans to get together again when we're down there this summer. And I can't express how much the kids love him. But it's a real toss up deciding who they love more...Matthew or his awesome dog Mya. Hailey cried and cried when they left because she fell madly in love with the dog. Maybe one day they'll be back up our way and we can do it all over again!