Acts of kindness from "Little Brother"

I first met Matt in 2001 at work. He was a tiny little thing, very young and all of the single girls were, shall we say, curious about him. I had already been with the department for about 3 or 4 years so I knew most of the younger generation didn't stick around long unless you were like me and had some nepotism going on. Matt and I worked together on the evening shift and he tried his hand at dispatching. He caught on quickly and the officers seemed to like him. He fit in great with me, Larry and Jonezy. We made a great team. Then for some weird reasons I decided to go to night shift. I was single with no life and a night owl. Matt and I didn't work much together for a few years and just saw each other at shift change. Fast forward a few years and when I returned to UT he and Kathy helped me settle back into the groove of things on day shift. This was the first time I worked day shift at the department. Since Larry and Jonezy have found other career paths our new team was made up of me, Kathy and Matt. It felt like home again.

Matt and I are sort of gadget heads. We both love electronics. Computers, mp3 players, car stereos, dvd players, ipods, anything and everything electronic or that I could break. Matt would always help me when I managed to break my computer or it had a virus or it needed more memory. Every time he helped me I learned how to do it myself so I wouldn't have to bother him the next time I broke something. Most of what he learned was from trial and error or stuff he taught himself. Always impressive in my book. I went through several computers through the years and Matt managed to make them last as long as possible. He even installed a new car stereo in my truck that my dad bought me. Everything Matt did for me was for free. He never asked for one red cent! I would try to help out when he went out of town and needed a puppy sitter.

Ipods: Yeah I have had my fair share of hatred of all things Apple, but destroying my first Ipod touch was my own fault. I managed to dump a 32 oz. Monster Energy drink in my purse where my Ipod was. I cried! I cried some more. Then after that I really really cried. I bought that all by myself and I was so happy with that Ipod. I loved it. I didn't have the money to get a new one and of course it wasn't under warranty anymore. Matt had a go at it and tried to open it up and dry it out. That didn't work and Apple doesn't make their products repair friendly. I was just going to have to deal with not having this luxury item for a while and maybe pick up some overtime so I could afford another one. One day while Kathy and I were working a weekend shift Matt stopped by. It was a little out of the ordinary to see him because all of us enjoy being away from work on our days off. Matt walked up to me and asked a very strange question. "Do you believe that good things happen to nice people?" I think my smart-ass response was, "Only in the movies Matty." He pulled out a brand new 32 gb IPod Touch. I could not believe my eyes! I could not believe that he put together a little scheme without me knowing involving himself, Kathy, Robin and my boyfriend, Russel. They all pitched in and bought me a new one. I cried again....happy tears. Tears of disbelief. I couldn't stop saying thank you to everyone. It turned out he got Russel's phone number from my cell phone and called him to recruit him as co-conspirator. Sneaky sneaky!

Kathy always referred to Matt as "Little Brother" because thats what he is to us here in our little work family. So, I started calling him my lil brother also. And Matty as well. Well, for the past few months I have been looking at new computers even though I can't afford one. My computer is about 5 years old and though Matty has kept it running all of those years I could tell she was slowing down and it was time for an upgrade. Again...no money so I was content with just making it last as long as possible. I received a text message from Matty on my day off asking if I was going to be at work the next day. Hmmm, felt like a trick question or a trap. I told him I was and he said he thought he may know a way to make my computer run better. I said thanks and I was curious to see if he found some new software or hardware that would help my poor girl run better. When we all got into dispatch he pulled out his laptop computer and put it in front of me and said, "Now you won't have to worry about your computer running slow anymore." WHAT????? Wait!!!! I asked him what he meant. He said he was done with electronics forever. Ummmm yeah right Matty! You lie worse than I do. :-) Then he pulled out a shiny new Alienware laptop computer. Instant melt for us gadget people. But wait! He just put his awesome "old" computer in front of me and told me it was mine.
That's not all he did. He gave Kathy a nice Bose Surround Sound system. He was casually cleaning out his closet and found something he wasn't using. Wow. Lil brother. You have outdone yourself here. You always do.

So, I don't have much to offer but I will write about your kindness and your thoughtfulness and what a great person you are. I am blown away by you sometimes and I will try to raise my level of kindness and thoughtfulness to your level. Thank you Matty. I couldn't ask for a better friend, co-worker, and lil brother.