Wow! Where do I start? I met Matthew at the age of 7. When I met Matthew, I knew he wasn't short of Love. His Nana, Mom and his crazy Aunties (yes my wife Kim, was one of them) were surely crazy about him.
I was fortunate to be able to watch Matthew grow up from a little boy to an adult. Matthew and I grew close around his teenage years and into his young adult life. When Matthew was 17 he wanted a tattoo. Well, I took him without getting his mother’s stamp of approval. When I took him to Jade Dragon on Belmont, the tattoo artist said to Matt "You're 18 right?" and Matt not knowing what to say said "no, I'm 17" the guy said again "You're 18 right?" Matt finally caught on after a couple more tries and said Oh, Oh, yea I'm 18, LOL. So, off we went to the back room to get him a tattoo. Well, we got them together, I too got one the same night. Well, Karen wasn't all too happy with him and especially I but, if you saw the glow on his face after he got it, you too would've taken a chance with his mom too(sorry Karen).
I even remember co-signing for Matt on his shiny new Mazda. Boy, Mattman loved his Mazda's. He owned one right up until the good Lord took him from us. Matthew was the reason I bought my Mazda RX8. I wanted to be part of his Mazda group and they too took me in, Thank You, you know who you are. It always seemed a bit weird because I was substantially older than the rest of the group however, they never made me feel like I shouldn't belong.
Matthew and I went to many concerts together including Metallica, Kid Rock, Sean Paul (that’s right he love all types of music) and many others. Due to his height, nobody behind him got to see the concert, LOL
The reason I mentioned these things is because Matthew always looked at me as a father figure. I know this because he told me. Even one of the last days I saw him in the hospital, my daughter Danielle (Matthew's cousin) and I were alone with him in his room and a Doctor came in the room and asked Matt "is he your father" and Matthew said "yes for all practical purposes" you can tell him anything. Well, I wasn't always the best father figure and without going into detail, some of the moments with Matthew weren't always my prouder moments (only Matt and I will know, ours) nothing illegal I assure you however, ours.
I will always have some regrets that I didn't take more pictures, I didn't take more videos with Matthew and like everyone who knew him, I didn't spend more time with Matthew.
I miss him more than words can say. I believe I had something special with Matthew because we had so much in common and like myself and everyone else you shared something individual with Matt. I do believe we will all see him again one day so, I'm not going to say goodbye only SO LONG AND WE ALL LOVE YOU!
Your UNCLE RON
