A Foundation for the Future, with Moira Veech

The Moran Family is excited to announce the launch of the With Gratitude Matt Foundation. This special episode is again hosted by Matt's brother Bill and he is joined by sister Moira to discuss the foundation's goals and background along with a few other updates and family stories. When Matt passed in August of 2023, the idea to honor and preserve Matt's legacy of helping others was an immediate goal of the family. The Moran family is excited to announce that With Gratitude Matt is now a charitable Foundation and has non-profit 501 (C) (3) status. The purpose of the foundation will be to support the ongoing production of this podcast and also assist young people who may not have the means to engage in activities that foster their growth and who have the courage to be grateful. In addition, creating awareness and helping fight the fear and burden of cancer will remain close to our hearts and part of who we are. The team is confident that Matt’s light, strength, and giving heart will live on in the benefactors of the With Gratitude Matt Foundation.

In addition, please check out our new website, withgratitudematt.com, where there are links to all of the previous episodes, the blog history, recent announcements about upcoming events, and a link to make a donation to the foundation.

Matt's family, friends, co-workers, fellow parishioners, and the many listeners of this podcast are all excited to continue what Matt started by being a person for others. Activity will center around cultivating gratitude, fostering meaningful connections, and contributing to our own communities. A special thanks to Mary Moran for helping lead this idea and also to our founding sponsor, DayMark Wealth Partners. Bob Prangley, a managing partner at DayMark, explained, “As we listen intently to the inspiration of WGM, we reflect and align with living an active legacy and service to others.”   

Learn more about the foundation, the background and here a few more Matt stories by listening to this episode here or viewing it here.  Stay tuned for the many new and exciting guests coming in 2025.

Transcript

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Well, hello With Gratitude, Matt listeners. It's Matt's older brother, Bill, again, and I'm excited to be here with you today for a new episode of With Gratitude, Matt. As you all remember, Matt's goal with this show is to inspire more people to practice gratitude on a regular basis. Matt showed us the way. And on his journey, he used the power of gratitude and deepened his faith, which helped him bring peace, confidence in God's plan and prepare him for his eternal life. The purpose of today's episode is to share with the listeners several special announcements, update you on what Matt's family and friends have done the past year and a half to sustain Matt's legacy of gratitude. Share with you what we've planned for the future, and thank everyone that has lifted us up in prayer. You've generously supported with gratitude, Matt, and you continue to help us live our lives with gratitude. So thank you for that. Today I'm joined by my sister. More of each. Hello and welcome. Maura, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? Well, first of all, thank you for having me. I'm absolutely thrilled to be on the show today. I think you and I were two of Matt's biggest supporters, so it just kind of gives me chills to be on with you today. So a little bit about myself. I am the youngest of the five Maryam children. I am going on 22 years of marriage to my husband, Mike. We have a 19 year old son, Luke, and I always love sharing this with people like Matt and my husband Mike were dear friends before we got married, and then obviously became much closer once we were married. So that's a pretty cool story. And I just a little bit about myself. I went to Ursuline Academy and played tennis at our line and had an amazing four years there, and then went on to follow the Marines to Xavier University. And I am currently a real estate agent for Subsea Klein. So that's just a little bit about myself, and I can go on and on. If you want to talk about not no relationship or. No, I think that's great. I kind of gives the listeners a little bit of an idea, you know who you are and, where you fit into this, family. And again, we're so we're so glad to have you here on the show. One of the things that you were going to share a little bit about was how you and, Matt had a special relationship, and I think Matt shared that with a lot of the listeners, a lot of his friends. But you're the youngest. And he was your big brother. What did that mean to you? Some great, great question. Very hard to sum it up into a few words, but I think in short, we had we had an incredible relationship. He was truly like a best friend to me. We shared pretty much almost everything, and I always, always knew that he'd be here for me no matter what the situation was. Hardship, anything I was going through in life, he was there for me. He was my go to guy. Excuse me. And, I think the most beautiful thing that has come about this, I still feel him every single day, I feel is huge smiles, his big spirit, encouraging words and daily you know, you and I know so well. Most of all his sarcasm and and and quick humor. So it's it's still I still feel him every day. Oh yeah. There's so many moments where you do feel that and and you're just grateful for it. And, and you, miss him dearly. But we we're going to live our lives, to the best we can. And I think, Matt, again, kind of borrowing my little phrase from the beginning, he did show us the way. So what are the things that we're going to shift gears here a little bit more is, you know, when Matt passed away in August of 23, the entire marine family, we all felt the love and support of his friends, his coworker ers, his classmates, and his fellow parishioners at the Tivity of our Lord up there in Orchard Park. And the resounding message was kind of like, well, gosh, Matt helped us so much. How do we preserve his legacy and help others? Well, we had the podcast, which Matt had really given us, and that's a gift that really it's an overused phrase, but that's a gift that keeps on giving. I mean, we can go back and we can listen to those and we can draw from those, draw strength and inspiration, and I encourage you to do that. But we're also going to go forward, you know, with the podcast, we're going to go forward and continue this message of gratitude. So the answer became obvious. We need to continue this message of gratitude. So in response to that, I'm excited to announce, with everybody's generous support. We formed and really, it was Mary's impetus, the with gratitude Matt charitable Foundation. So it it is we have 501 C3 nonprofit status. And, you know, I'll just kind of give you an idea of what this foundation looks to do. I'll kind of read from the our stated purpose. It was formed to help fund the With Gratitude Matt podcast in focus on ways to support young people who may not have the means to engage in activities that foster their growth. We want to support them, especially those individuals who show they have the courage to be grateful. In addition, creating awareness and helping fight the fear and burden of cancer will remain close to our hearts and always a part of who we are. Matt light strength in giving heart will live on in the benefactors of the With Gratitude Matt Foundation. So we set up the foundation and and that'll help us continue what Matt started. So so more like you were a big part of this too. But why don't you share with the listeners how this foundation came to life? I think I think from the beginning I like to give Mary credit for this. When we sat down and put our minds together and figured out what what what our mission was going to be, Mary summed it up pretty clearly. She basically saw an opportunity to help provide support to young people who might not otherwise be able to experience gratitude because of possibly a financial hurdle or other circumstances. In their life. Because of our amazing friends and family and their generosity, we can continue to make a difference as Matt would want us to. We can't. Thank you enough. Well, that's that's great. And thank you for Mary, really, because she's the one that took the lead on that. And, we just followed. But in order to get this all started, we needed, a founding donor. And why don't you kind of introduce who that is? And and, what that means to us? Well, that's a that's a resounding, thank you. And we are beyond fortunate enough to have de Mark wealth Partners as our founding sponsor. Thank you to our dear friend Bob Pengelly and the entire de Mark family for the generous support. I believe, Bill, I think it was you who approached Bob. And when you asked him why he decided to help with the With God to Matt Foundation, he he said, we listen intently to the inspiration of. We reflect and align with living and active legacy and service to others. Beautifully said, Bob, and and a true heartfelt thank you from the entire Moran family. To Bob Pengelly on the day Mark. Community big data, gratitude to Bob and the day mark team. So we're kind of moving through some announcements. We've got a few others to make, and the next one that we're really excited about, and this all came about, through the great efforts of Matt's, Saint Ex classmate Mike Meade. And a lot of the listeners will know Mike because he's kind of the brains behind this operation. He's the, man behind the screen, so to speak. And he makes, this show, sound good, look good and, very professional. He writes a lot of the the show notes, and, but he also, helped us, greatly enhance our online home, for with gratitude, Matt. In with gratitude, Match.com. So I encourage you to check out the newly improved website. And, it just has a wealth of, of information, plus is a great resource for all of those who want to keep up with the podcast and any announcements of what the foundation is doing next. It shares Matt's story there. It shares our vision, our values, and our mission. So it's it's very comprehensive. And it has easy to navigate. So I really encourage you to go to with gratitude matt.com. It has a catalog of all 78 podcast episodes. It has all of the show notes, links to the video and audio episodes throughout the various streaming services. And it contains all of Matt's blogs, which you can which can give you an opportunity to kind of review and go through these powerful messages and the lessons in the stories. You can also sign up to receive, announcements of events and announcement of new podcasts that have been released. And with respect to the website, you can even make an online donation. There's a there's a place to do that to support, what we're trying to do here. So, thanks to everybody that made that possible and especially Mike need, who was kind of the architect, behind that. So, really, really cool stuff. And, I know more. You had a chance to look at that. And it's really, it's I like it because it's a one stop shop to kind of go through. And, if you're if you're looking to go back and listen to some of the episodes, it's really makes it easy, right? I mean, did you find it that way? It I think it is so user friendly. And the best part to me is you open the page and it's Matt's it's picture, Matt. And it just makes you smile and it's just you can go through all the like, just like you said, click on the links. You can listen to all of them, listen to a few of them. It's just it's really, really smooth and it's it's yeah, it's bright. Kind of puts a smile on your face and makes you want to dig a little deeper. Yeah. Good stuff. So, we'll keep keep, moving with our theme and our goals here for this episode. We've got a lot of them, so. But one of the things that, you know, we said earlier, was there were so many communities that Matt was a part of, and one of them was Nativity of Our Lord, and the other was Saint Luke's Xavier University, his alma maters. He had his family and his friends, of course, and his coworkers. But this this kind of came about organically. And it really, I give you credit more because, you know, when all this, you know, when when Matt passed, there's a lot of uncertainties. And how do you honor him, but also how do we continue to move on and live our lives so that we can be the best versions of ourself? And one of the communities that you connected us with, was Saint Xavier and through Father Boehm. So how did that kind of come about and maybe even take a step back? And how do you how are you familiar, or were you familiar with Father Beau? Yeah, of course I, like you said. Well, Luke was, a senior at senior high school at the time, and I was on the mother's club board, so father Bomb was, we were fortunate enough to have him, you know, serve our masses for mothers club events, and we just. This organically formed a very nice relationship. So he was a great guy. And, he then in turn, I actually Bill was you, me and Brian, who went and met with him to prepare for the memorial mass that we were going to have for Matt in October of 23. So Father Brown celebrated the mass in the Holy Communion chapel for Matt, and then we followed that with a reception in the same cafeteria. Father Brown was actually clearly was one of the Jesuits, at Xavier High School when Matt was, was a student there and he was actually Matt Skyros leader. For the Kairos retreat back in the spring of 1987. And Father Bomb, to quote Father Brown, he said that since Xavier was proud to call Matt and Allen and celebrate his life because he lived his life for and with others, he exemplified what it meant to strive for the Major's always challenging himself, growing his faith and serving his family and others. We are truly grateful to Father Brown. Saint Faber for helping us with his celebration. Sadly, Father Bond was called to his heavenly home in August of 24, nearly a year after match, and passed. We are comforted knowing that they are together in their eternal homes. And Father Brown was an amazing, amazing man and he and Matt had a had a wonderful relationship and they're together again. Yeah, it was very clear that those two had, certainly known each other while, Matt was in high school and Father Brown was a young Jesuit at Saint Luke's. But one of the things that, you know, they they reconnected later and it was kind of neat and and they, and I don't even I think they Matt wanted to, bring a guest on Father Michael Graham, the former president of, Xavier University. And Father Brown was the connection that kind of made that happen. So Father Beau and Matt had a little zoom call, and, Matt had his little cross cross behind him, and Father Bound could see that in the camera and said, Matt, I see that you have your cross cross. And he goes, yeah. And he goes, you gave this to me. And he goes, Matt, we gave that to the cross, person that we felt, exemplified most of what we were trying to accomplish during that retreat. So and by the way, Father Bam hand made that cross, so it was great. We did. We would have never known that story. But for Father Brown. And now we know the origins of the cross. Cross. So pretty cool. So, yeah. Very fun. Yeah, it is incredible. So, one of the other things, you know, I mentioned before was Matt's bond with Nativity of Our Lord, and that was such a special place for Matt. And, you know. Oh, one of the things that they, they always do each winter is they have the Joe DeMarco basketball tournament. And, it was exciting. In 2024, they designated, and dedicated that, tournament to Matt. So that that was pretty cool. That nativity did that. And and I know more you've had a chance to get up to the tivity in Orchard Park and kind of maybe share with the listeners what that school and what that parish, you know, meant to Matt, and what it means to our family really going forward. Well, definitely. Yeah, we've had it. We've had quite a few opportunities to visit Orchard Park. And I think the biggest thing I'd say is they have welcomed us the entire Moran family and my family in. And it is it is truly it's a beautiful place. And they certainly certainly loved Matt so much. And they are so supportive of Mary and the girls. And, and I would just say just right from the get go when Matt moved, when Matt moved back to water park, Matt and grace the entire community, he became fast friends with the pastor, Father Jim, and then the associate pastor father or excuse me, Father Peter. Father Peter Passi was actually one of Matt's guests on, episode number 12 of the With Guide to Matt podcast. Does that surprise you that Matt, threw himself into the community at all? Not at all. I mean, it's not at all. And so what did the school do? Like, you know, and you and I had a the privilege of being up there. What did they do to kind of, you know, that really was we were taken away by this. But they did it last spring and you and I and and my wife and your husband, Mike, were able to attend. I mean, what an incredible weekend that was. It was a fun weekend. It was an emotional weekend. But, the Nativity community honored Matt at their annual gala, and it was incredible. And when I say honored him, it was. I mean, they had slideshows, they had printed up programs. And, special thanks to the principal, Colleen Scott. She did an amazing job honoring and, highlighting Matt's life. And then, of course, Matt's good friend and now our good friend Greg Slammer did an incredible job. Speaking on speaking to Matt and what his life was all about, he was a formal. He firm formally coached with Matt, and they they became fast friends. And it was just a beautiful evening and actually left all four of us just in awe and actually kind of felt good just knowing the girls are going to be just great. They are. They're surrounded by love and everything that Matt stood for is in that community. Yeah. It was it was a special night. I, I, I, I will share kind of a more humorous side to this. So Mary asked me to speak and I was very happy to do so. Now, the problem was, so Father Jim, the pastor, came up, he gave it an amazing prayer. And then Colleen Scott spoke, and she was incredible. Greg Flamer gave a tribute to Matt that was unbelievable and just so powerful. And then Mary spoke and brought the house down. Then they had me speak. So it was kind of like, why do you have all these Hall of Famers speak? And the lesson there is, don't be the last person to speak after all of these wonderful messages. So the only thing I could do was thank them and sit down and they were ready to have. You did a great job. You did a great job. And they're ready to have a good evening and, and, raise some money for a wonderful school. So absolutely. Yeah. So it was pretty cool. Cool stuff. We were up there, you know, again recently. And, you know, one of the things that that the school did was they now give away to an eighth grade graduate at graduation, the gratitude award in Matt's memory. And, you had a special experience up there. Actually, a couple weeks ago. What? Why don't you share that with the listeners? Yeah. So we went to, to see, Matt's eighth grade daughter, in her performance of beauty and the beast, which. Bill, I kind of giggle. I think you and I are still humming some of the tunes, you know, as we drive along. It was an incredible performance, but I was very fortunate. Not enough. Mary and I were actually taking tickets at the. The guests entered the gem, and I was fortunate enough to meet the 2024, recipient of the Gratitude Gratitude Award, and just totally took me by surprise. It was just, oh, this is this is more I'm Matt sister, and she came around kind of gave me like a half hug. And she just was so appreciative. And then her mother came up and spoke to me and just said how much they loved Matt. And she was so honored that her daughter received this award. And I think that kind of leads into, I want to speak on behalf of our entire family whenever anyone has something to say about Matt or a story, please share it. We appreciate it. It brings us so much joy to hear everyone's stories, because pretty much everyone has the story. And it's just it's it's great to see that he's still touching so many people's lives and influencing them. And even if you think it's a silly little story, it makes us happy. So so we welcome that and we appreciate all the all the stories shared. Well, that's well said. And then kind of keeping through with our theme here. I mean, the support and love just kept coming. And then our brother Brian was inspired, to bring the family and friends together for a golf outing. And this was, you know, a lot of the listeners will, you know, some of the older listeners will remember that, you know, when Matt, Brian and I were, younger, we would have, we throw together the Maryland Golf Classic, and we just we had a good day of fun and this was that. But, you know, ten times better. And Brian was inspired to kind of recreate that. And, you know, it was just a it was a great day. And so we had that last August, and a special. Sweltering hot day. Belle. Oh, yeah. I think we actually it was in last July, but we it was, it was, it was the hottest day of the summer, I think, bar none. But everybody had a blast. And, you know, so it was, it was really fun to be together and kind of celebrate that. It wouldn't have been possible without you. And it would have been possible without, Saint Luke's Cara Hester. I mean, my goodness, what she did to help us. You know, I could go on and on. We could do a whole podcast on that. So, very a very, deep debt of gratitude, to Cara for for what she did and helping us pull off this. We had 110 golfers. We had many families and friends join us from all over. I'd be remiss if I started naming them because I would forget all the different locales where everybody came from. But it was pretty cool. And, I'm excited to say that the net proceeds of the golf outing were donated to Saint Xavier High School to a fund in Matt's name. So very fitting and very appropriate and, very much appreciated. So, shifting gears here a little bit. I mean, again, there's, you know, Matt's breath was very wide and again, I we're taking a look back and a little later we're going to look forward. But, Dana Farber treated Matt and they they were incredible. And Matt would make that commute from Orchard Park in Boston and back regularly. And he could he connected with the entire staff. And, as many of you know, Matt and I connected with, Boston College linebacker Bryce Steele while we were in the waiting room at Dana-Farber. And then Bryce shared his powerful story on with gratitude, Matt and episode 75 and, you know, the family wanted to recognize what Dana-Farber had done for us and what they had done for Matt. So through the help of Matt's good friend Michael Reavie, we were able to connect with, the people at Dana-Farber, specifically the Jimmy Fund, which is their big, fund to help fund cancer research and help those live with cancer. And so, Michael connected us and, I'm happy to say that they there is now a donor page for Matt and for Bryce, Bryce Steele, at the Jimmy Fund, but also they did a feature, the Jimmy Fund has a blog. And last summer they did a feature on Matt and Bryce's story. And it was it was really very fitting, a great tribute to two amazing people. And really kind of, you know, Matt would always say be present. And I think that was another example of that. And we kind of went over that in Bryce's episode. But but I think it's worth reminding everybody, of that beautiful friendship that started in the waiting room at Dana-Farber. So, you know, I know, again, another special, special, moment that we experienced this past year was that connection with Dana-Farber and, the Jimmy Fund, donor page. So more you always you and Matt kind of had your own lingo on a few things, but one of them was kind of cool. Whenever you would experience, special moment and you feel the presence of a loved one, what did you guys call that? Well, I know what you called it, but just share that with the listeners. We might like. Kind of. We might have made up our own words. So we had our own lingo. But now this is a good one. God. Wings and, I think you and I, we talk all the time, Bill, and we talk. I think we we we receive so many God wings for mom, dad, Matt and and I think to highlight probably my most powerful god wing for Matt was it's kind of hard to get through, but, we we received the dreaded call from the hospital that dad was in critical condition. Yeah. It's just. And I'll help you out here just to set the tone. You don't have to set the tone, but because I know this will be an an emotional one. You you shared this with me, and we both were crying earlier, so, I don't expect this to have a dry eye after this one, but. But anyway, so just for the listeners, last summer, dad got sick and he was in the ICU, and, you know, we're obviously optimistic, but also, you know, praying that God's will and, you know, just hold dad's hand through this journey and, you know, by the way, everybody you know, that is listening to this has experienced very similar experiences like this. This is not unique to us, but we're just sharing it so that, you know, you can maybe learn or get some inspiration from this, but so taking a step back, everybody on this that knows Matt knew that his number one favorite song, bar none, was Kenny Rogers The Gambler. Right? I mean, they knew that. Yeah. So. And I hope everybody, experiences the joy when they listen to The Gambler, as we do so, you know, it just it was his song. And just to kind of bring it back, he would always perform it if he was out, with friends. It could have been at a party, a party or a bar, you know that he was he was known to go to those things. And he would ask that they queue up Kenny Rogers the Gambler. He would, sing it. And by the end of the song, everybody would join in. And it was it was great. In fact, I remember, telling the story about when he did this, I wasn't there, but, when he did this with family or with some friends over in Ireland, and, he had an old Irish pub saying The Gambler. But. So just to give you the context, dad's in the ICU, and you can kind of take it from there. So we get the call. Yeah. So we get the call. So of course, and, you know, we all we all talked and I'm white knuckling it driving up 71 just kind of in in a zone in my own little world just, you know, thinking of dad and, and I'm just about to get off a road and just I look up and it was a moment. Thank God I had it. I looked up and there was the most gorgeous sunrise I've ever seen in Cincinnati. So I look up and it's a beautiful sunrise and lo and behold, what songs on the on the on the radio, the gambler and it just it it was like I was driving, but I just literally stopped in my tracks and I thought, I can almost physically feel Matt hand on my hand saying, it's all going to be okay. Mom and I are waiting for that. And it just, I don't know how I got from that point to the to the, the parking lot, but I got there and it just, it really it kidney's such peace and I wasn't scared. It was just like gosh they've got him. And it was just a beautiful nudge. And I think like you said, everyone everyone experiences loss. And I think it's just up to us to actually, as Matt said, be present and take that moment and really reflect on that. Like that was a beautiful moment in a very sad time. But I felt Matt was guiding. Right? No, I couldn't have said it better myself more. And thanks for sharing, sharing that. And I just, yeah, I mean, it was so powerful. And I remember that morning, I can't tell you that I heard The Gambler, but I sure as heck saw that sunrise, and I sure as heck was there with dad and and so was his entire family. So it was it was, I think we have a friend, mutual friend. And she calls those two moments beautiful. They're both brutal. And beautiful. At the same time, so. Yeah, so. But the blessings continue. And as we, as we, continue to live our lives and in, in gratitude and, and, what else have you seen and what else have you experienced that you know, kind of that you really value and that you're grateful for? Oh, gosh. This, that that's an easy one. I would say probably my greatest blessing and one that I'm most grateful for, is the fact that Mary and I have just become so incredibly close, closer since Matt's passing, and likewise with Angelina and Caitlin. I just adore those girls and, treasure our relationship. And it really, it gives me peace, comfort just to see Matt in each of those three girls. It's, you know, there's different, different characteristics that I see in each of them. It's just it's it's really warms my heart and it makes me so happy to see him live on in in their lives. And to say that he's proud of them is is an absolute understatement. And right, Mary. Mary is just one of the strongest people I've ever met. And, and she, she continues to keep, you know, to keep Matt alive, remembering stories, remind the girls what he lived by and just, you know, pushing them each day to go after it with everything they do. So, he's definitely proud. And and so are we. They're they're pretty amazing. Yeah. It's it's it's, it's inspiring to be with them. And it's also, just really special to, just be a part of that. And, and, you know, I just, I really, can't, thank the girls enough for, for leading the way. And, And, Bill, I think, you know, also, we have to say, you know, thank Mary for continuing to keep us so involved in our lives. Agreed? No doubt. Yeah. So, so, yeah. So, you know, I kind of. Now, I guess it's my time to share a little bit. And I don't again, keeping with the nativity of our Lord. Gail, I don't know if I can, follow that story, but I'll try. You know, really, there are so many times in, in the day where I, you know, think of Matt or mom or dad or really any of our loved ones or friends and family that we've lost and, and I, I really know that they're there. I know that they're present. I know that they're there with us, obviously not in body, but definitely in spirit. And, and the the moments are countless and they could occur, you know, any time during the day. But there there are times where that I experience. And is special and unique to Matt. And it's like, gosh, he's the only one that would get this silly joke or this humor or the, the, the humor in this experience. And it just, you know, and there's countless of them. I can't even, you know, tell you how many there are where I'm just like, and I'll just kind of be like, well, Matt, that was pretty funny. And just have a conversation or at least talk to Matt. And so I still do that and I, I'm glad I and I do that with Mom and Dad, and I do that with a lot of our loved ones that are, in their heavenly home. But but that, to me, is just another way of remembering Matt, but kind of getting back to, you know, the gambler and how beautiful that was. And, you know, one of the things in kind of keeping with that theme when we had the golf outing, you know, we you and Kara had this event planned and the whole golf committee, and there's too many people on the committee to name and so grateful for all their help. But we're everything's or we're scrambling and we're like, well, you know, we need one more thing. What, what? So John Reavie comes up and he's got a huge basket full of ball markers with the reframe from the gambler printed on them with the With Gratitude mat logo. And I'm like, oh my gosh. So it just kind of awesome. Yeah, that that hit me pretty strong. And I know it did. You two so brought brought a song always brings a smile to my face. And just seeing that ball Mark did the same thing. So but I will tell you that this past year, there was one moment where it hit me and I was listening to Matt's favorite artist, who happened to be John Denver, and, the song started playing, and I heard, you know, John Denver's familiar voice, familiar melody. But I had never heard the song, and I'm like, okay, well, I kind of like this. And part of the refrain was Joy was just the thing he was raised on. Love was just the way to live and die. And I thought, oh, wow, that's Matt. Like, he was raised with joy and he lived with love in his heart. I was like, okay, wow. So I look at my phone and I'm like, oh, I'm going to favorite this. Well, I go to favorite it. And I must have missed the opening line, but the song's name is Matthew and I'm like, oh my gosh, I couldn't believe this. I'd never heard the song and and I was I was even more amazed at the song's title. So I immediately like, get, you know, get my phone out, share it with my my buddy, my good friend Bob, Claire and Bob. You know, he's like a music encyclopedia. John Denver's one of his favorite artists. And we would we would always banter back and forth on trivia, music, trivia and those kinds of things. And I said, Bob, have you ever heard this song? And he was just amazed as I. And he's like, no. So that was a big God wink for me. Matt was telling us, and yeah, he was there in spirit. And like you said, everything was going to be all right. So that is great. Bill, you might not remember, this probably wasn't your first concert, but John Denver was my first concert. Mom, I think we packed some subway sandwiches and we went to Riverbend, and that was. That was my claim to fame. My first concert. Well, that's a good one to go to. Good old. Yeah. John Denver. So really cool. And what a great song. So go out there and listen to Matthew. It's you'll, you know, that's that's. A gorgeous song. Yeah. So we're getting kind of close to our, you know, time here more. And, you know, before we wrap up the episode, there's, you know, kind of a lesson learned category, or at least topic. And, I don't know, like, you know, maybe if you could share, you know, some of the lessons that you've learned, throughout the past year and a half, and, and kind of break those down for the listeners. I think, you know, and actually, Bill, you spoke of this at mom's mom's funeral. It's, you know, show me your friends. I'll tell you who you are. And Matt. Matt, choose wisely. He, his friends have have shown up, and it's pretty nice to just show up. So, I think just, you know, I that's a lesson I learned, but I just think it's just something I've gained. And, and I think also, you know, through through our loss, I think it's, we have to we have to be positive and move forward. And as as Matt want us to, but it hurts so much just because it was so good right now. And. Yeah, so we we were we were blessed with the best. Right? Just, you know, hope and pray that we continue to strive high and make them proud and, and, and carry on their legacy. Yeah. I, I, I can kind of, write. Well, I can't say it better, but I'll, I'll try to build on that, you know, kind of like in you and I talked about this and we've talked about this with Megan and Brian and all of our in-laws and family, all our close knit family. And you know how blessed we were to be raised by mom and dad. And, you know, we were taught that our education was a journey of a lifetime. And, you know, I, I feel that way. And it should be. And we're still learning and still challenging ourselves. And we will always do that. And we, you know, will continue to do that. You know, and I, I won't. So the thing it's maybe not as easy for me to articulate, but I'll try to. That I learned, was, you know, when, when I was growing up, we were taught a lot of, truths. And one of them was to trust in God's plan. And I don't know, you know, I'm kind of keeping with Matt's, message of being present and keeping your eyes open and open to growth and everything. Like that. I will tell you that this year, last year and a half has done that in and I saw but before that I saw that in the way, you know, mom, Matt and Dad live their lives, live their lives of faith. So we saw it in action. And now it's our turn to do that, you know, worse. But we need to live that. And, you know, it's it's interesting. I. Yeah, you and I kind of outlined this, you know, what we were going to try to talk about today and I was coming, you know, it's kind of coming at a little bit of a, a mind block and, and I, you know, looked down at my eye shelf in my office and I see this book and, and it's here it is, it's lessons from the school of suffering. A young priest with cancer teaches us how to live, father Jim Willig. And I'm like, well, this book has been sitting there for, oh, probably two years. Dad had given it to me. I never opened it. I never really looked at it. But I thought, well, I'm sure there's a few lessons here. Maybe that's what the title is. And just to give the listeners some context. Father Jim Willig was a, dear friend of my mom and dad. His his family was, well, their Cincinnati icons. He was from a large West Side Catholic family. He became a diocesan priest and then, was diagnosed with, renal cell carcinoma. Go figure. And he passed away, I believe, in 2001 or shortly thereafter. And he wrote this book while he was, experiencing cancer. And, so I thought, well, maybe, maybe there's some lessons in here and I, I guess, probably rather than me, you know, I'll give Father Willig the credit here, but but I guess I saw them in dad. And, you know, one of the things that he says was suffering can be a blessing. And I, I was like, what? I don't know if I would have understood that, two and a half, three years ago, but now I do because I saw it. So thank you, Matt and Mom and everybody that dad that that helped open my eyes to this, the big one. Strong words, Bill. But, dad, dad's proud that you finally read the book. I. Well, this was a light read, but it was pretty powerful, let's put it that way. Yeah. So, and then the other, you know, this this one hit me really hard, and and it and if you go back to one of Matt's, previous guests, Jessica Hannah blessed by cancer, she also, articulates this as well. And it's our purpose in life is to prepare for the eternal life. And I was like, oh, boy. Okay. Wow. That's that's a big one. So, that's a wake up call. And and for me, it has been. And so I think moving forward, that's, you know, that's what I strive for, you know, and kind of getting back to, you know, what Father Brown said about Matt was he strived for the margins. So that's another way of saying it. A couple other lessons here, and then I'll stop, stop talking and stop reading. But, and this, this one hit me. And if. Father. Excuse me, doctor Roy Van Tama talked about this, and it was even if you're not physically cured, we can heal spiritually. And that's ultimately what's most important. So and I remember Roy Doctor Roy talking about that. And that was so powerful to me. And it's in his in his, in his book that he shared with us, healing before your cured. But and the last one and this is what gives me peace is father willing said, entrusting and surrounding to God. God gives us the gift of peace. And haven't you felt that more? Absolutely. The gift could not agree with you more. Yeah. So, you know, in closing, in more, you're familiar with Matts familiar closing and we haven't really changed it. And if it's good, why not? So Matt always reminded us to be present and to do three things every day, to live our life to the fullest. Find something you're grateful for, regardless of how powerful the storm is, be present to those that you are with. Pay attention to what you're feeding your mind, your body and soul more. I can't thank you enough for doing this. There's no way I could have done this without you. You're doing an awesome job, and I. I'm honored that you had me on, so thank you. Thanks. Know and love. You, big brother. I love you, sis. Thank you so much. I will encourage the listeners go through with gratitude. Match.com. Check it out. Listen to some past podcasts, stay tuned for new ones and exciting announcements with gratitude masked listeners. Until the next time, find the courage to be grateful. Godspeed, my friends.