He is the youngest of all my siblings. Sometimes it is good to be the youngest and sometimes it is not. I remember we all felt like we could boss Matt around. And, to his credit, he was pretty good about doing what we asked. I, as a bratty teenager, sometimes jokingly called him my little servant.
When I left for college, Matt was 11. And when I left for my mission, Matt was 14. When I got married, 16. I missed out on a lot of his maturing years. It took me a long time to see him as an adult.
When he was waiting for his mission call, I jokingly told my dad that he would be called to Buenos Aires. You see, at the time, my dad didn't want him to go to Buenos Aires because he was worried about what would befall him there as his daughter had caught pneumonia and ended up in the hospital when she was serving. I can remember him saying, "Matt can go anywhere. Just please, don't let it be Argentina." I told Dad that because he didn't want him to go there, his call was sure to be there. Funny thing was that Matt did get his call to serve in Buenos Aires, only he was in the North mission.
When Matt returned from Argentina he attended Ricks (oops, I mean BYU-Idaho) and I was living in Idaho Falls, so for the first time in years, I actually got to spend time with him. He would come and visit us on Thanksgiving and weekends if he was in town. Soon, he became romantically involved with his soon-to-be wife and I saw less of him. But the time we spent together let me see just what a caring young man he had turned into... and of course, I stopped seeing him as my "little" brother and there was no more bossing from me.
Matt, you've turned into a great man, father and husband. I hope you have a great birthday!
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