TODAY MATTHEW I THINK BACK TO THE DAY YOU WERE BORN!! MEMAW AND I HAD GOTTEN BACK FROM GALVESTON BECAUSE THE DOCTORS WANTED TO INDUCE LABOR BECAUSE OF GESTATIONAL DIABETES. THAT DIDN'T WORK BECAUSE YOU WENT INTO FETAL DISTRESS, THE DAY BEFORE. THAT DAY WE WENT TO WAL-MART SHOPPING FOR LAST MINUTE THINGS. WELL ABOUT 2AM MY WATER BROKE AND YOUR DAD AND I WERE ON OUR WAY TO UTMB. WE STOPPED IN THE SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT FOR AN ESCORT WHICH THEY TOOK US TO THE HEAD OF THE LINE TO BOARD THE FERRY.  20 MINUTES FELT LIKE FOREVER AND I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO HAVE YOU ON THE FERRY!!! THANK GOD YOU HELD OUT TILL WE GOT TO THE HOSPITAL. IN THE DELIVERY ROOM THE DOCTOR TURNED AROUND AND THAT LAST PUSH YOU SHOT OUT LIKE A WATERMELON SEED JUST IN TIME FOR HIM TO CATCH YOU.. IT WAS SO FUNNY CAUSE YOUR DAD ALMOST PASSED OUT AND TURNED WHITE AS A SHEET. WE HAD TO STAY A WEEK CAUSE YOU CAME OUT SNEEZING AND THEY HAD TO DO A SPINAL TAP WHICH EVERYTHING TURNED OUT FINE. EDDIE AND RACHEL, MEMAW AND PAPAW CAME OVER TO SEE YOU. THEY SPOILED YOU BY THE WAY. WHEN YOU WERE ABOUT 1 AND 1/2 MONTHS I TOOK YOU TO SEE OLD PAPAW HE WAS SMILING AND COULDN'T GET ENOUGH OF HIS GREAT GRANDSON THAT WEEKEND!!!! I THINK ABOUT HOW MUCH WE PAID TO HAVE YOU CIRCUMSIZED THAT WAS 30.00 DOLLARS CHEAP BACK THEN. BUT YOU WERE OUR PRIDE AND JOY SON......... YOU GREW INTO A VERY FINE YOUNG MAN, ONE I WAS VERY PROUD OF BUT NEVER TOLD YOU OFTEN ENOUGH.  25 YEARS MATTHEW IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE TIME HAS PASSED SO QUICKLY AND THAT ALL I'M LEFT WHITH ARE MEMORIES AND PICTURES TO REMEMBER YOU BY.  I REALLY WISH I STILL HAD YOU HERE............BUT I WILL NEVER FORGET AND LOVE YOU ALWAYS!!!!!!       MOM

 we remember valentine's as a day of love! matthew two years ago bought me a gold and ruby three heart necklace for valentines day and told me I LOVE YOU MOM for everything you put up with and for helping us when we needed it. he and amanda one year also bought me a dozen pink roses cause he knew i loved pink roses!!! i wish this year matthew that you were still here with us not for the gifts but just for the moment i could hold you hug you and tell you how much I LOVE YOU!!! YOU ARE MY LIFE, MY LOVE, MY SON!!! you made me so proud in the man you turned out to be.....    always my love, MOM

I REMEMBER EVERY HALLOWEEN, WHEN THE KIDS WERE LITTLE.  EVEN AFTER MATTHEW GREW INTO A MAN AND MARRIED HE STILL LIKED TO DRESS UP AND SCARE THE KIDS!! I REMEMBER HE AND CHRIS WOULD GET UP ON THE PORCH ROOF AND WHEN THE KIDS WOULD COME TO THE DOOR AND YELL TRICK OR TREAT THEY WOULD JUMP DOWN AND SCARE THE FIRE OUT OF THEM OR SIT IN A CHAIR REAL STILL THEN JUMP UP AND SAY BOO!!!! THAT'S PROBABLY WHY WE DON'T HAVE MANY KIDS THAT TRICK OR TREAT HERE ANYMORE THEY REMEMBER MATTHEW AND CHRIS!!! MY TWO BOOGIE MEN. THIS YEAR NATALIE WENT DRESSED AS HER HERO UNCLE MATT THE FIREFIGHTER!!!

i remember every holiday matthew and chris, sara and nathan would go buy fireworks!!!  the day before new years eve in the drawer i found a hand full of matthew's blackcats he had from the year before. in honor and memory of matthew we went to the cemetary and lit sparklers and a blackcat for matthew, it was funny cause all the sparklers did was smoke up the cemetary and i know matthew was on standby!!!!

I REMEMBER WHEN WE WERE LIVING ON 13TH STREET IN PORT ARTHUR,TEXAS. SARA WAS 2 1/2 AND MATTHEW 5, EDDIE WAS AT SCHOOL. I HAD FINISHED CLEANING HIS ROOM AND WAS HELPING SARA MAKE HER BED WHEN I SMELLED SMOKE!! I RAN INTO MY BEDROOM JUST IN TIME TO SEE MY CURTAINS A BLAZE, MY WOOL CARPET WITH SMOLDERING HOLES AND HUGE BURNS IN MY SPREAD. I'M FILLING POTS WITH WATER AND THROWING IT ON THE FIRE AND CARPET AND MATTHEW ALL THE WHILE SAYING SARA DID IT.  I WAS FURIOUS AND CALLED MY MOM AND DAD TO TAKE HIM TO THE FARM AND TIE HIM TO A PINE TREE..... NOW I REALIZE MATTHEW WAS FULFILLING HIS DESTINY IN BECOMING A FIRE FIGHTER AND WAS ALWAYS THE FIRST ONE AT THE FARM TO BURN PAPAW'S TRASH!!! THIS THANKSGIVING I WAS LOOKING OUT THE KITCHEN WINDOW AT THE FARM AND PAPAW HAD ANOTHER BY HIS SIDE; JESSE TYLER TO BURN THE TRASH.  I COULD SEE MATTHEW STANDING NEXT TO JESSE WITH HIS WATCHFUL EYE AS THEY BURNED THE TRASH. WITH TEARS IN MY EYES I COULD PICTURE MATTHEW STILL WITH US NEVER VERY FAR AWAY!!!!   R.I.P. CAPT. 2

MATTHEW HAD A BEAUTIFUL FUNERAL PROCESSION: A FIREFIGHTERS FUNERAL. HE WOULD BE SO PROUD AND I KNOW HIS SPIRIT WAS WITH US!! HIS FAVORITE LITTLE BUDDY JUSTIN VEITCH SANG AMAZING GRACE FOR MATTHEW, THERE WASN'T A DRY EYE IN THE HOUSE. CHANNEL 12 DID A NEWS PIECE ON MATTHEW'S FUNERAL WHICH WAS WONDERFUL: SO MANY PEOPLE WHO LOVED YOU MATTHEW! IT'S BEEN HARD WITHOUT YOU AROUND.  YOUR HEADSTONE AND BENCH FOR YOUR GRAVE IS ONE OF A KIND AND IT WILL MAKE YOU SMILE. REST IN PEACE MY LIFE, MY LOVE, MY SON!!!!

REMEMBER EARLY ON WHILE THE KIDS WERE GROWING UP, I ALWAYS HAD TO USE BIG BOXES AND DUCT TAPE! EVERY TIME I WENT TO WORK AND CAME HOME ALL MATTHEW'S GIFTS HAD BEEN UNWRAPED AND REWRAPED. HE EVEN HAD CHRIS AND SARA DOING THEIR GIFTS!!! THE BOY NEVER COULD WAIT TILL CHRISTMAS EVE!!! GOTTA LOVE YOU MATTHEW, WISH YOU WERE HERE TO STILL HAVE TO USE THE DUCT TAPE, LOVE MOM