11 years ago yesterday, Friday the Thirteenth.

Eleven years ago yesterday...it was Friday the thirteenth. I was walking home from the bus with Tarah. We were discussing how lucky we had been to escape any misshapes, considering that it was Friday the thirteenth. We were feeling good, however, as we neared our street I couldn't help but feel like I was walking into a thick cloud of grey on a sunny day. As soon as we stepped on to our street I saw them. Parked outside of our house with there heads down. It was a couple of people from the fire department. They worked for my dad, but I couldn't help but wonder why they were hear. As I neared the car I could see that there heads were down and they wore grave faces. Tarah and I looked at each other and quickened our pace. We passed with smiles and said hello, they gave a sorrowful hi, so we hurried in the house. Dad was sitting in the living room with mom, Cori and Tashi were already there. "Girls sit down, we have some news." I sat at the piano bench, my heart racing a million miles a minute. "Well..." He started, "You know that Matt has been sick the last couple of weeks? Well we took him to the doctors today and they did some blood tests..." We all had fear painted on our faces. "What's wrong with Matt?" We all questioned. "Well he has cancer, Leukemia." My head started to spin and the room turned to a blur, I couldn't see anything but the floor and couldn't hear anything but crying. The doctors told my parents that if they would have waited any longer, Matt would have been gone two weeks later because the cancer had progressed so rapidly and his white blood cell count was so high. We spent the rest of the day roaming the house aimlessly... while my parents went to the hospital to get things set up. We spent the next four years in and out of the hospital, wearing masks and applying thick layers of hand sanitizer. Matt NEVER ONCE spent a night alone in the hospital and at home. That was a promise we made to him. So we took turns sleeping in the hospital, we took turns sleeping in his room, we took turns spending hours with him at the hospital, and never let him out of our sight, not even once. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that Matt was ready and okay to be left alone for a couple hours or to sleep alone in his own room again. We have celebrated every diagnosis day since. Celebrated because Matt is still alive.

Eleven years ago yesterday Matty was diagnosed with cancer...Matty is still here, cancer free. And today Matty is going through the temple for the first time. Thank you God for letting us keep our angel.