Happy Birthday Matt!

A few things about Matt on the occasion of his 29th birthday!

• When Matt was a little boy he wanted to be a 'garbage truck guy' because they got to ride on the OUTSIDE of the truck.
• He knew there was a difference between an alligator and a crocodile when he was about 2 but he couldn't remember exactly how to differentiate so he called both animals a 'crocolator'!
• Matt has a lot of musical talent that he keeps carefully hidden. He played the piano beautifully and surprised us by singing a solo at a Ward talent show one year.
• He got 2nd place in a Sonatina piano competition and take it from me, his unbiased mother, he should have won!
• His gift for languages took off in Spain. He speaks Spanish expertly and picked up Catalan well enough to work at a little bar in St. Cugat, the town where we lived outside of Barcelona.
• Matt is like his Dad. Anything that he decides to do, he does well.
• Among his many outdoor interests...hiking, rock climbing, camping, river rafting.....
• But his greatest and truest love is snowboarding!!!
• He doesn't really use a ski pass much because he prefers out of boundary wild scary stuff...at least scary to his Mom!
• I knew we had created a skiing monster when he wanted to skip kindergarten to go skiing.....later he changed to a snowboarding monster!
• Matt loves to go fast and is a daredevil.
• He also has a sensitive side. When he was 3 he went to a birthday party. After he got home he told me that he had gotten hurt at the party. I asked him if he cried and his response was, "My face wanted to but I didn't let it."
• He loves to read & now he reads novels in Spanish.
• Matt has amazing artistic abilities.
• Another of his passions is Football Club Barcelona! He is a true fan!
• Matt has more friends in Spain than any of us. He spent time with the families of his Spanish friends and they all loved him! He loved them too & not just their mountain & beach houses!
• We're so glad to have Matthew Walter Lewis as our son. He has brought joy to our lives & also has given us a few grey hairs and wrinkles. With Matt life is never boring!