Dear Matthew,

Just in case you ever doubt my admiration of you, please reread these words.

Rest in the knowledge that never before or ever again, will I have encountered a man with your moral compass. So, firm in your faith, you are devoted to your family. You show us each day what it means to travel through life with one foot planted earthly and another firmly in the clouds with heaven in mind.

On this day seven years ago, you gave me the greatest of gifts-

the privilege to walk this world with you.

We have endured more this year than we could have ever fathomed when we spoke those words on a beautiful fall evening.

I don’t know how I would stand today without your steady hands guiding me.

The pain has been so deep and so wide and so very all consuming.

It has tested my faith but never for one moment has my love for you wavered.

Thank you for being present in the hardest of times,

for taking on the responsibility of shouldering the sadness my beautiful girls endure.

And then to think when things were already impossible, you walked into a perfect little toddler’s open-heart surgery, and you carried yet another load.

Our little warrior girl calls you her best friend.

When she speaks those word what she is really saying is you are her everything.

You are all our everything’s Matthew.

I used to want the climb to define me.

I wanted those around me to see the struggle and the rise.

Now I only want the world to see that it is in you I have found my peace.

Whatever this world hands me, I know I can move through it with your love.

Thank you for loving us all,

for teaching me that perfection is only found in the father’s love

and that being a witness to sorrow is to live in his light.

I will be grateful for you until the end of my days.

I love you Matthew.

Seven years down and a lifetime to go.

Love,

H

PS –