18 years ago Matt was born (almost to the minute). He joined the rest of us with his eyes wide open … and didn’t shut the bloody things for any more than an hour at a time for the next 8 or 9 years from memory.
He has proven over the years to be an interesting blend of our traits … he mixes Hedy’s ability to study and her work ethic with my lack of both, my sense of humour with Hedy’s compassion for others.
He has elements of both of us in the way he appears, fortunately probably more of Hedy than I, and yet at other times I can see myself in him as he sits for hours trying to get something working just right on his laptop or researching which car he would love to own next.
Quite where he get’s his musical ability from is a bit of a mystery to me, I can only presume it’s Hedy as my ability to play anything is limited to an iPod. But I can sit upstairs for hours listening as he plays his guitar down in his room, probably unaware that he has an audience.
Matt can be stubborn and fiercely competitive … just ask anybody that has watched him play soccer or any of the referrees that have red carded him over the years. And yet he has very much enjoyed both referreeing and coaching himself with younger kids at the school soccer level.
He has had to work through his fair share of injury, especially with his left knee which he has been trying to ruin since he was about 14 and which at last was reconstructed earlier this year.
He is loyal to his friends and still sees a number that went to primary school with him, and a couple that he first met at kindy.
He has won a large number of awards for his academic work along with an award for leadership at school, and is a house captain this year. He dreams of studying medicine or physiotherapy.
He is the sort of young man that teachers are forever saying to us at parent-teacher interview, “if only every kid in my class was like Matt” … and yet he is likely to be one of the first to stand up when there is some fun to be had.
He has faced a number of significant issues around him over the years, and has grown from each such experience, learning a little more about life and how to deal with it each time.
Reading this it is easy to understand why we love him, and yet all of this has nothing to do with it.
You see … he’s our son … game over!
Happy 18th Birthday mattfish!
Leave a Reply