Three
Years since you left us Matt O. and I feel like after you died, we had the
pandemic and my professional life got crazy and I haven’t had proper time to
grieve you.
Today I
listened to you singing The Lord’s Prayer which I have heard hundreds of times
and it’s calming. Then I listened to “You Raise Me Up” and it hit me ….. and the
tears rolled.
I miss
you so much, I miss our talks, I miss your crazy ideas, I miss taking you
treats, I miss it all. I miss my brother.
I saw a
Facebook post the other day about what MS took from you – it was meant for
people living with MS and I stopped and paused for a moment. Well MS Took my brother (a father, a husband,
a friend) away. But what did MS Take from Matt? Besides the obvious, it took
his vision, then his mobility, then his spirt and that’s what hurts the most! The
personality that Matt was; larger than life, life of the party, happy, caring,
loving, helpful, hard working, do anything for anybody man that he was. That’s
what it took.
It makes
me sad that the younger generation today didn’t really get to know healthy
Matt. I sometimes wonder what I am
supposed to learn from life’s events. What is God’s master plan? I read a book recently, Stranger in the lifeboat
by Mitch Albom and a phrase that has stayed with me:
“When someone passes, people always ask, ‘Why did God take
them?’ A better question would be ‘Why did God give them to
us?’ What did we do to deserve their love, their joy, the sweet moments we
shared?”
The same author’s book Tuesday’s With Morrie
(The inspiration for a “A Chat with Matt” blog) he writes “Death ends a life,
not a relationship”. Grief is a funny
thing. While we know the cliché’ sayings “He’s in a better place….”, “He’s not
suffering….” It still hurts. I know my brother didn’t want to live how he was
living but it doesn’t make it any less painful to lose someone. I find a peace in remembering all we shared,
the visits, talks and phone calls and before that the choir practices and
family get togethers.
I am truly grateful for my brother, for the
lessons he taught me, the friendship and support.
Nobody can take away the memories or the blessing that he was.
So on this day while I recall the date of his passing, I will recall the life
he lived.
Larger than life. And if you know….you
know:
“What do you feed your babies”?
“Wide Mouth Frogs”
(lips pursed together) “OH ya don’t say”
Here's to you Matt O. I love you!
