My very good friend,

my dear friend, Matt

The picture below of our hands was taken about a month before Matt's passing.  My dad and his girlfriend, my sister Dawn and her boyfriend, my brother Dan and his girlfriend, my boyfriend and I, our family friends Barron, Mel and our dear Matty got together for a weekend in Vegas.  We had arranged a "summit" of sorts to get our nearest and dearest together in celebration.  And of course having Matt accept our invitation was the key component of the weekend.  He was like a brother to us kids, and like a son to my dad, we all loved him throughout the years, more than words can say- to us he was an extension of our family.  We had a great time together in Vegas at the pool (my dad told the story at the Memorial about the topless bathing suit models!), and at the two Dave Matthews shows we went to, the Jason Mraz after party, hanging out at the grill at our condo, and brunch on Sunday morning.  The memories of the weekend are so vivid to me and I can still picture Matt's smile and hear his laugh.  This picture is such a symbol to me of our family bond.  We had just cooked a great meal, and had salmon (for Matt of course!), we celebrated Dawn and Dad's birthday, and congratulated me on finishing Grad school...then we had to get ready for the Dave show very quickly.  So in order to wrap up the dinner, I told everyone to put their hands in the center of the table.  To my surprise, we all did it with great enthusiasm.  The fact that this picture taken was like a miracle.  We yelled, Go Team! and laughed, then ran to get ready for the Dave show.   I am so glad that one of my last memories of him was this moment of unity and gratitude.  It was a night where we all did eat, drink and were merry!

Matt is three years younger than me and was in the same grade as Dawn.  I didn't start my own friendship with him until after college about 7 years ago, when he moved to LA and Dawn to San Diego.  I went out to visit them during the summers.  *Then one winter he came to NYC. We went to see a DMB show and we got backstage to meet Dave, and then went to their private afterparty!  *I went to visit Matt in Berkeley and had the most wonderful memories from that trip of talking about our spirituality, families, life...etc.  *I came out for a trip to San Diego and we all had that magical moment of being on the beach with a double rainbow behind us and the most glorious sunset in front of us.  I always called Matt a Wizard because whenever I hung out with him, the most amazing things would happen.  Then I finally moved to SD and got to spend time with Matt at the beach where one day he encouraged me to get my NYC butt out of my jeans and sneakers, and into sweat pants and barefeet to play volleyball with them.  I was on his and Adam's team and we won, it was a great first beach volleyball experience!  That was the day that a bird pooped on his sweatshirt and we walked to the surf store to pick him out a new one.  He wore that blue hoodie almost every day afterwards.

Matt and I clicked on so many different levels and was one of my three best guy friends.  I will miss our "conversations about God" so much.  He is and will always be in my heart and in my memories. 

Love, Melissa Mitschele (yogateacher7@gmail)