I said "God It Hurts", and God said "I know"
 

I said "God I cry alot" and God said "that is why I gave you tears"
 

I said "God I am depressed" and God said "that is why I gave you sunshine"

I said "God life is so hard" and God said "That is why I gave you loved ones"

I said "but my loved one died"

and God said "So did mine"

I said "God it is such a loss"

and God said "I saw mine nailed to a cross"

I said "But God your loved one lives" and God said "So does yours"

I said "God where are they now"?

And God said "Mine is on my right and yours is in the light"

I said "God it hurts"

And God said "I know"

Oh my gosh, Matthew could put away some milk. He had to have it. He could drink a gallon a day if he wanted to. He also loved chef boyardee spaghetti and meatballs. He loved ribeyes cooked rare. Anything hot he would eat. He and his sister Jennifer had a jalapeno eating contest once. They both ate a whole jar. What did Jennifer in was the fact that she drank the juice. She got sick as a dog.

As a child he loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Watched them all the time and owned everyone of the action figures. Jenn threw  one of them, think it was rapheal, into a fish pond and Matthew took off running into the water to save it. He was about 5 years old. I did not think Daryl was ever going to get a hold of him once he hit that water. Scared us so bad.

Later he got interested in Superman, he had all the movies as well as the Smallville movies. He had a superman tattoo on his right shoulder. Everyone was always buying him superman stuff. The only thing I received from his personal possessions was a superman keychain that Katanyas brother bought him for christmas. It now hangs on a silver chain around my neck. The other personal items did not matter to me. I have his ashes, his pictures, his memories and his heart.

Matthew really could scare the daylights out of me. He has jumped from bridges and cliffs. His favorite thing to do was a backflip off these places. My stomach would be in knots til it was over. He talked me into jumping off the jump bridge in Tellico last year. That was something I would have never done for anyone else. He did a backflip off of Bald River Falls several years ago. There were people visiting from all over and they captured it on tape. He felt like a celebrity, hehehehehe. Also last year we went to a place on the Tellico River where rocks are hanging over the river. He coaxed his sister up there , had to be 20 to 30 feet above the water. She was chickening out. He simply looked at her and said " Jump or Ill push you". They jumped hand in hand.

Even before Matthew was born he was bouncing off the walls. I was scheduled for a c-section on December 3rd, 1986. I had to be at the hospital at 6 am. I woke up around 12 am with some contractions. I grabbed my baby book to try and determine if this was really contractions. I did not want to wake Daryl yet. I guess after two hours the lights finally woke him up. he asked me what I was doing. I told him and he said "What? Lets go". We got Jenna up and took her to dads and headed to the hospital. Sure enough I was in labor. We named him Matthew Stephen, Matthew means "Gift from God". He was just that. Matthew was born with a head full of brown hair and blue eyes. his hair turned blond when he was a 8 months old. We noticed his sense of humor when he was five years old. I was cooking dinner and I asked him if he liked buttermilk biscuits. He said no. I asked him if he liked buttermilk and he again said no. Before I could respond he said "I like butter on my biscuits but not in my milk". His sense of humor grew along with him til you never knew what would come out of his mouth.

Matthew was a fearless child. He was always bringing me snakes, lizards, frogs, he even brought me a possum once. He had been trying to catch a raccoon. I told him to put it down it was nasty. The possum was alive, but I guess it was playing dead. It was probably wondering how it was going to get away from this rambunctious child.  

Matthew was very loving and compassionate. We lived on Sand Mountain at one time and there was a pond beside our home. Matthew went out to the pond one day and discovered the pond was drying up, it was very hot and dry that summer. There were tadpoles swimming in the pond and there were only a few inches of water in the pond. I think Matthew was 7 or 8 at that time. He collected everyone of those tadpoles into mason jars and set them on the porch. Saving them was not meant to be. His sister, Jenna, poured them onto the ground and squished them when he wasnt watching them. he cried his heart out over those tadpoles.

You know Jennifer gave both her brothers a hard time while they were growing up. I guess all siblings go through that. But they were soo close. Even though Jenn was older, she looked up to her brother. She may have been able to terrorize him as a child but when he got bigger it all changed. He was her confidant, her protector, her big/little brother, and her advisor. She misses him so much and loves her brother dearly.