Matthew Monday: His Heart of Gold

I must relate something wonderful Matthew did last week.

It was my wife’s birthday and unfortunately I had to take an all-day business trip down to Maryland.  Three hours down, three hours back, and most of the day there.  It made for a long day away. 

The night before I told Matthew to wish his mother a happy birthday in the morning, and he nodded as he climbed into bed.  I would be gone before he got up, and I wondered if he would even remember the next day.

When I got home that night I found an ice cream cake in the freezer, partially eaten, but you could see “Happy Birthday” written on it.  I thought my wife bought for herself—possibly in a tiff since I didn’t do anything special for her.  But the next day she told me what exactly happened.

After school, Matthew made her take him for a ride to the ice cream parlor.  He had her wait in the car while he went inside all alone.  He selected an ice cream cake, had them write “Happy Birthday” on it, and paid for it with his own money.  Mind you, he’s been saving to buy a bicycle, and I only give him a few dollars each week when he helps me with some chores.  The cake came to over $26 after taxes, a few weeks of allowance for him.  He carried the cake out to the car and surprised her.

He made his mother feel so proud. 

 

I was looking for a picture of him to put here and found he took a picture of himself with my camera.  He never allows me to take his picture any more, but he’ll do this.  Go figure.