Amazing Matt

I was feeling blue. I drove 7 hours to Colorado on Tuesday in bad weather, going 35 mph for several hours of it because the roads were so bad. After I turned unto Matt's unlit road which was snow packed (over ice), my car started to slide and would not make the turn. I slowed to 10 mph, but hit the guard rail and smashed the front end of the car. When I got out of the car I nearly skated because the road was pure ice with 1/2 inch snow on top. A goodly neighbor pulled me out and towed me back near Matt’s house. It snowed all night, and the next morning Jessica went to exercise, and I got Matt's lunch ready and watched him walk out the door to the bus stop. The bus makes a special stop for him, but he has to walk down his road and then cross about 20 feet of mud and snow and over a cattle guard to get to the road where the bus will stop for him. Three weeks ago he fell through the cattle guard and was stuck for 45 minutes until someone saw him and brought him back home. Jessica had looked out the window and thought he’d been picked up. The bus driver didn’t see him, so she drove on by. I decided to follow for a bit a few minutes after he left, just to make sure he had made it OK with the new snowfall (once a Mom, always a Mom). At the base of the street I noticed that my hazard lights on the wrecked car were blinking, so I went back for my keys, feeling really mad at that dumb car. When I returned to it, I saw what had set the lights flashing... Matt had written "I love you Mom" in the snow on the window. Suddenly I remembered that my life was good and that wrecked cars can be fixed. Matt's life is harder, but he has a good attitude. Lesson learned.

Matt never complains about going to work although he stands all day and his foot aches from his brace. He is glad that he can make the house and utility payments on his own. He works five days a week including Saturday as a door greeter at Walmart and doesn't brood over his former career path in computers. When he gets home he pitches in with the kids and always does the dishes. Sometimes his lack of memory is beyond frustrating - for others, and especially for him, and yet he maintains a good attitude. His spirit is as tall as his body, and his mom looks up to him!