FYI to the readers...this is a long post...a tribute to my friend...but worth the time to read. It has been hard to write about, but here is the result of my labor of love. June 30th, 2008.
The day our lives changed forever...
I was sitting down at my computer in the afternoon balancing my checkbook, reading my e-mail and thinking I should do at least one blog post for June. I opened up my account and signed in. Just then my phone rang - it was my best friend Leesa Bolton. I answered the phone with a cheery voice, but knew immediately that something was very wrong. I can remember with such clarity the events of that afternoon.
Leesa told me she had some bad news.
"There was an accident at Matthew's work today and....."
For a few moments, all she could do was sob. My heart began racing and pounding up into my throat as I knew what she was about to say, but so badly did NOT want to hear it. I went down the hall to my daughter's room where I could be alone.
"Wendy...Matthew died today."
I couldn't breathe...or speak...or even think. I have never had anyone close to me die
so suddenly before, and could not fully grasp these words being said to me...
My Friend Matthew Bolton...
Born: July 19th, 1977
Died: June 30th, 2008
I met Matthew a little over eight years ago. I had only just met Leesa a few months previous. We were taking a phlebotomy course together and ended up both working at the same hospital. We became friends very quickly. Just a few weeks into our friendship, she told me I just HAD to meet this great guy she had recently met and was dating.
Some of my first impressions of Matt were definitely lasting ones. He was kind, sweet, funny, and and just plain fun to hang out with. Matthew always had a big (sometimes goofy) smile ready and a great story to tell.
It was not hard to be friends with him. But then again, he was friends with everyone. Not once during our 8 year friendship did I ever hear him speak an unkind word about anyone. It fills me with peace and gladness to know that he knew life was indeed way too short to waste any time or energy on thinking ugly thoughts.
Soon after meeting they knew they belonged together, so Matthew asked for Leesa's hand in marriage. So on August 4th, 2001, Matthew and Leesa became husband and wife.
It was such a wonderful day filled with family, friends, laughter and fun!
You can just hear Matthew saying, "Haaaaaaa haaaaa!" as he lovingly shoves the cake into his new bride's mouth.
Sweet Leesa was much more kind with his piece. had a son from a previous relationship that he fought tooth and nail to get custody of. When Christian was about 6 months old, he was taken from his father (by his birth mother), taken to various unknown destinations, and exposed to very unstable, unhealthy circumstances. Matthew did not know how or where to find his son until years later. He finally did find out where he was and that he had been exposed to these bad situations. At that point, there was no question about it! Matthew needed to gain full custody of his little boy! When it came to getting this custody, and providing a better life for him, Matthew and his family stopped at nothing. They got the best lawyers and proceeded with every step necessary to make sure his family would be completed.
Matthew and Christian sharing their very first Christmas together.
When she was an infant, I recall many evenings when I would be visiting, and Leesa would get completely and totally frustrated that she could not get Kayla to settle down and go to sleep. Throwing her hands up in despair she'd turn to Matthew. He would take his little bundle, hold her close and gently talk to her while rocking slowly back and forth. He had the magic touch. Within just a few minutes, Kayla would be peacefully sleeping in her daddy's arms.
Here is a Daddy daughter fishing date they shared
together at a pond in Las Vegas. After Christian came to live with Matt and Leesa, they started on their adventures together. The Bolton family loves to camp, fish and spend time playing outdoors.
Plus, Matthew was an avid motorcycle enthusiast -
- especially with KTM motorcycles. Actually anything with the
KTM symbol and/or colors (black & orange) on it, Matthew had to have. Even his sunglasses were
orange.
Matthew and his son went on many biking trips together...
...with a few of Matt's closest friends.
If any part of the motorcycle ever broke, he took it upon himself to fix it. There would be NO repair man coming to lay his hands on Matthew's bike. No way!
There would be no repair man coming to fix anything that broke. Matthew was very handy around the house. From fixing the bikes, to repairing the air conditioning unit and sprinkling system, to even stitching up a hole in one of Leesa's bras. That's right! Matt was bored on one of his days off and decided that Leesa's bra she'd been complaining about needed to be fixed. The wire had come out one of the sides - and that would just not do. So he grabbed the sewing kit, and off he went...sewing up the material around the wire and fixing the bra. When she came in the door from work, Leesa was quite shocked to see him sitting on the couch doing this chore.
When Leesa and Matt moved into their first house together, as Leesa was inside working on her share of the boxes, Matthew was working on unpacking and organizing his beloved garage. Leesa came out for a break and to see how it was going. She noticed a slew of crates lying about with miscellaneous motorcycle parts heaped up inside them. When asked "What on earth are all of those?!" His joyful, enthusiastic response was simply,
"It's my bike!"He had all the various parts strewn about, but in his mind, it was a beautiful (and whole) Honda 480 motorcycle. He succeeded, of course, in putting this great bike together and found much joy in working on it through the years.
Starting up that bad boy!!
My friend, Matthew Bolton was a kind, wonderful loving man. He treated Leesa with the utmost love & respect and always did everything in his power to please her.
He was most recently working 2 jobs to save enough money to be able to join the rest of his extended family on a vacation that had been planned for months. He wanted to make sure that his little clan got to go too.
He wanted nothing more than to be a good dad & husband, and a caring family man.
And he was! Family was the most important thing to Matthew. I loved visiting with them, hearing about the most recent camping trip (one of which we were lucky enough to be involved in)...
...or the motorcycle ride he and his friends had taken last weekend...
...or even just about dinner last Sunday night with his family and friends. The Bolton's knew the importance of being together...laughing, joking, sharing fond memories.
Kayla was obviously ecstatic as Matthew blew out the candles at his 30th Birthday party!
Matthew, we love you and miss you tremendously!
She is so artistic and creative!
Ta Da! Here are the finished products. 
Gunnar is proudly displaying our evening's work.
And here are Gunnar's (left) and Sienna's (right) pumpkins all finished. Gunnar carved his the week before at the Newbolds....
and this week, Gunnar drew an awesome bicycle on this ghost pumpkin (which we grew in our garden)...
He did this by himself! :) 
