To My Good Friend, I Say Goodbye....

It is rare in this life when you get to meet people like Matt Hill. This was a man who it will always be a pleasure to have known. Always had a smile. Always had something nice to say about anyone he knew or even didn't know. He was a gentle giant who could soothe even the meanest soul. Matt was a great friend and a dear member of the human race. He passed away just this past Saturday from complications with his testicular cancer that he had only recently been diagnosed with. One of those freak things that is not supposed to happen to someone so young. Not to someone I know. Not to someone with whom I shared a stage with more than once. Most memorably was West Side Story. Watching someone the size of Matt gracefully dancing across the stage was a sight to behold. He did it, though. With his patented smile all the way. Someone I double-dated with in High School is not supposed to die. Matt and I were taken to Sadie Hawkins with our respective dates back in the day. We got in trouble for getting up in rotation to check the score of the NCAA Championship Basketball game that was taking place the same night of the dance. We were at the Spaghetti Company on Mill Ave. in Tempe. I will never forget that even though that restaurant is no longer there. Even as I write this, I find it hard to get the words out that I want. How do you write about someone so magnanimous without over-simplifying their life? You can't. You just find strength and comfort in the fact that Matt was a very spiritual man dedicated to his religion and God and you know he is on a better plane of existence now. Matt, we may not have seen each other in a few years but I will never forget you. You touched my life in ways that few have. You taught me a lot. These lessons I will cherish and never let go unheeded. I know you are in a better place. God speed, my good friend, as you slip the surly bonds of earth. You are missed.