woke up on sunday morning,
freezing my ass off,
and saw this.
then i saw aj.
decided to go survey the damage,
both outside.
and inside.
we decided to high-tail
it out of there
before the lady
of the house arrived
to beat us senseless (sorry, josh).
we left.
seeing some geese along the way,
headed to the mpls.
for a little breakfast.
sat in the sun
of a beautiful sunday morning.
saw a newspaper box
with the name of the st. paul
paper on the side.
remembered for the first time
that it was father’s day
and that there
was an article that talked
about my blog.
bought a paper and read it
with aj
as we waited under an
awning that didn’t
block the sun.
we finished up and headed toward
the mtka for madeline’s
first pool party.
i got ready,
even taking a shower for
the event.
was excited,
but was most excited
to see madeline again.
she’d been with grandpa tom l. and grandma bev
for the last 28 hours.
was reunited before the guests
arrived and i swear
madeline is bigger than
when i sent her packing yesterday.
guests began arriving.
had a large turnout.
family,
friends,
strangers friends.
madeline was passed among them.
all of them.
and was perfect the
entire time.
(see? i wasn’t lying?)
we met tons of
people we’d only met
via comments, e-mails, and phone calls.
met laurie and daugher katie
remember them?
a few weeks ago
katie sent madeline her
madeline doll.
met marcie, bailey and piper.
remember them?
it was piper
who sent the garden of awesome drawing.
they came with a robot cake
and a father’s day card for me.
met carter and his mom.
remember them?
carter drew me the awesomest
robot drawing ever.
there were so many
others who came out to
meet madeline
it was fun.
the weather was perfect.
and look at this.
holy shit.
(people are too kind).
the guests were gone
by 9:00pm
but we hung out until
11:00.
i passed out on the
couch, but madeline
was still ready to
party so awesome auntie deb
took care of her
while i’ll slept.
a day that couldn’t be beat.
liz
would have loved it.
83 Comments
i’m so glad you had a wonderful father’s day. you deserve a hundred thousand more really awesome father’s days. what kind of formula is Madeline drinking these days?
hugs from NJ
erica and Landon
I am so happy you had a great day full of wonderful family and great friends, old and new. You are right, your little girl is getting so big. She is beautiful. Your an awesome daddy! Liz would be proud!
What an awesome day! Were you at the Twins game last night…I looked up and saw a “Welcome Matt and Madeline” sign on the jumbotron. The husband (and others around me) sort of looked at me strange when I squealed, “Matt and Madeline are here”. I kept hoping your pic would be on the jumbotron! Share pics! Hope you had an awesome time watching the Twins kick ass!
Sounds like a great first Father’s Day. Madeline is lucky to have you. Liz would have been very proud.
sounds like a great time at the Madeline’s first pool party. I love the picture with Great Grandma holding Maddy. It is precious how Maddy is just loving looking at her daddy. I hope you had a great father’s day.
Happy 1st fathers day! And happy 1st pool party to Madeline!!!
What an awesome Father’s Day with old and new friends. Madeline does look bigger in that picture. She is soaking up all the love around her.
matt, i am glad you had a good father’s day. i like the last two lines of the post the best.
Dude,
You never said how the fishin’ was? Looks like there may have been a few “bottle” bass caught and conquered…. hmmmm
Glad you are having a great time in the mn.
Madeline is so freakin’ cute.
love is a beautiful thing.
we are all capable of love.
Matt, thank you for an opportunity and a space to truly love not only you and your little girl, but one another.
this can happen everywhere in our lives folks.
really.
Good for you! You deserved every minute of that rocking party for you and Madeline. And, I’m super jealous … she’s so small, and she’s already had her name on the Jumbotron at the Dome!!!!
What a fun day! Matt, that house is ONE. HOT. MESS! I would hate to be the one to clean that mess up! lol. But, all for fun, right?!
http://andria-and-co.com
Ack! Tissues! Quick! Crying in my cubicle again! Damn you.
This was a happy entry. I’m so glad you had a great day. I think that would have made Liz happy, too.
P.S. I’ll forgive you for not having pictures of Maddy in a bathing suit. This time.
I heard your interview (I am pretty sure it was you) on that MPR piece you did while in town. The Current played it the other night. Your answer was very cute.
Looks like you all had a great party!!
Sounds like a perfect day!!
Glad you had a nice Father’s Day!! I am glad you are finding comfort in the blog….we enjoy being here for you and sharing your journey. You are doing a wonderful job!!!
OMG, it looks so wonderful! What is with the quality of the light there in the MN? Is it the lack of smog???
I love the pic with the man-feets stickin’ out under the red sleeping bag. LOL!
p.s. The blog looks BEAUTIFUL. Elegant, even.
STRANGERfriends helping to make “a day that couldn’t be beat” That is what we are all here to do Matt! As always – we thank you for allowing us in to your life, for making us better people in our own lives because you share yours with us! You ROCK! And so help me, if when you head back to the LA this weather we’ve been having follows you…I will personally be out there to escort you and the little Miss back here – regardless of how many uhauls it takes to get her and her stuff packed up!What a great day! I love the photo of Madeline looking at you. You can already see her love for you in her eyes. So sweet.
Piper sure comes up w/ some good lines.
Diggin on the new site. It looks great. AJ should be commended.
So glad you had such a nice first fathers day.
I’m so glad you had a perfect first Father’s Day. I’m sure Liz is watching over y’all and is soooooo stinkin proud she can’t stand it!
What a fun day! Madeline is SO cute. We check all day at work for updates. You ARE doing great and I know you’ll get better at it every single day!
Glad to see that Father’s Day was good. I’m sure Liz would not only have loved the party, she would have been the life of it. It’s amazing how I feel like I know her just a little bit through pictures.
I would have loved to join the party, but had my daughter and I come she would have insisted we spend all the time in the pool. Some almost four year olds can sit and visit with adults. Not mine. (but I don’t mind playing)
A while back, Friday I think, you mentioned a phone call that you got during lunch that will change your plans for the future? I think that is how you phrased it? You went and got me all curious. What gives? I’m also hoping for a fishing report….
So glad to read that you have had a WONDERFUL
Father’s Day! You deserved it! xoxo
What an awesome day that sounds like! I’m so glad the weather has been cooperating since you got here!
Em
Sorry Josh? Sorry lady of the house!! I hope those other boys cleaned up after their par-tay.
I’m so jealous of the people who got to hold Madeline. I want a turn! Hand her over!
fleeing the scene of that crime was DEFINITELY a good idea
I’m loving the happy post! While I have been waiting patiently (for dayyyyyssss) for the next entry I peeked into your pic folder– now I know I will hold myself back as the pics are so very awesome, but even more so when you match them with your incredible words! and to go back a day or so- the first 3 pics of Miss M sleeping on the floor are amazing, they make me smile just looking at them– I sometimes forget those days when they stayed where you put them! Mine are just turned 2 and almost 3.5 and never, ever, ever stop!!
Happy 1st Father’s Day!!! ps- I love the look today(green leaf, gray back, easy on the eyes font!)
Happy Belated Fathers Day Matt! And Happy 1st Pool Party to Maddy! I wish I had pool parties like that…what a great turn out!I love that we saw a semi-smile out of her too! I cant wait until she finally caves in and smiles for you and for all of us to see!!
Happy late father’s day to the BEST Dad ever! I also would like to know what kind of formula the little “miss” is on….I may have a few connections! You are an awesome person and you are doing a wonderful, loving, caring, spectacular job with your daughter. She is blessed to call you Daddy. Please post the formula name. Thanks!p.s. A.J. has done a great job with the site, don’t change a thing,,,,okay maybe a few more pix of Maddy.
Piper rocks! I love the rainbow!
And your beautiful girl just gets more and more precious. Wish I could have been at the party!
It’s another beautiful looking day here in MN… hope you’re enjoying it (instead of sitting at your crappy desk at work like I am)!
I got a headache just looking at the photos of the day after.
We can’t read the full post in the RSS feed anymore?
I can’t always go to the site itself, I liked it better when we could see everything in the RSS feed.
What an awesome Father’s Day! The party the night before looked like fun too! I think I would have rather been there then where I Was. Happy first Father’s Day! Glad it was a good one for you!!!
Robot cake, hand drawn father’s day cards, gifts, pool, friends, family, and new friends. Perfect day for a wonderful father and daughter. Yay. I’m so glad you enjoyed your weekend.
about that sign….. Breaking laws now are we. ROFL. I suppose it’s not a real* party until signs are pulled out of the ground or at least one law is broken.
Again, Sorry we didn’t make it. I’m still bummed about it. Maybe another time.
Hi Matt and Maddy! Saw you guys at the game last night, but too many crowds to push through. Hope you had fun and it was nice to see a great game. The new and improved web site looks great. That green in the heading looks awesome. Hope today has some awesomeness in it for the both of you.
Sounds like the best Father’s day you could have – hope you enjoyed it!!
PS – It was Josh’s bachelor party right? Is there still going to BE a wedding after that mess? Fuck I hope it got picked up, at least a little, before the lady of the house came home…
I realize your photos of the “morning after” were supposed to be focused on the mess, but I just kept going back to the yellow stand mixer, and how awesome it was. I have a matching red one and I was thinking they’d make cute robots if someone were mechanically inclined enough to turn them into robots.
Glad you had an awesome father’s day! It seems like this trip has been great for you! And that robot cake was amazing!!
Sounds like a great father’s day. What’s with the nachos for breakfast?
I’m loving the cake! And you were smart to get out of their before cleaning took place
So, so awesome Matt! I’m glad you had such a fantastic Father’s day! You’ve earned it!
FYI: K in the N said something about having a crush on the Robot. I’m just saying… If we suddenly have a lapse of Robot pictures and Kate posts, perhaps we check and see if the two of them ran off together.
Sounds like a great 1st Father’s Day and pool party for Maddy. Liz would be so proud of you! Keep doing what you’re doing! You’re amazing! Loving the pics. Maddy is getting so big! she’s a cutie!
Sounds like a great 1st Father’s day and pool party! Liz would be so proud of you! Keep doing what you’re doing! you’re amazing! Maddy is a cutie. She’s getting so big. Loving the pics.
Between the hot drunken mess and the awesome pool party, looks like you and Madeline are spending some well deserved R&R in The MN!
You’re not missing much here in California…well except the 100+ degree weather, ugh! Thank your lucky stars you have a wonderful new A/C to come back to! Ask you housesitters to have it blasting upon your arrival
Here’s to many more post like this one! The weather in The MN is no coincidence…it’s Liz smile shining down on you both for a beautiful visit!
I agree that the “man-feets” hanging out from the end of the red sleeping bad were funny, but what was even funnier to me was the guy passed out sitting up on the sofa behind him! That was priceless… and I am sure that most of us have been there at some point in our lives! Glad Father’s Day and the 1st pool party were awesome.
Happy first father’s day. Ive read your whole blog now. Your story is heartbreaking, yet inspirational. I certinally huged my kids a little tighter last night. My husband got the biggest hug. Yay for amazing dads!
I also wanted to mention that I love your writing style, and dont mind your colourful use of the language
Your pictures capture your mood and themes so well.
Thanks for allowing me the oportunity to peek into your life. I think I’ll be visiting often.
Laura
(a stranger) from Port Coquitlam, B.C Canada.
I’m so glad your that Father’s Day was a good day. You certainly deserve it. Madeline is getting so big and looks so happy.
That house made me cringe. I would hate to have to clean up that mess.
So happy to hear that you had an awesome first Father’s Day! It looks like fun was had by all.
And, I have to tell you, I LOVE that picture of Great Grandma holding Madeline. It gives me a serious case of the warm-fuzzies. That is a picture both you and Madeline will treasure for years to come.
xoxoxo
I love the new video of Maddy smiling, sneezing and yawning. watching her puts a big smile on my face!
matt, i like the picture of you at nye’s. you look relaxed and content.
glad you’re having fun here in the mn, and thanks again for so generously sharing your life with us — you are truly amazing.
@matt/aj — i retract my former comment about not liking the new format. this background allows matt’s photos to really pop off the page. i also love the green frond. looks awesome!
Great to get back to the wee one eh?
Sweet.
Glad you had a good Father’s day.
First of many.
What an awesome fathers day!! I’ll actually be abandoning my home in Arkansas for a trip to Minnesota at the end of the month. (Imagine that….goodbye cows, hello moose??) At any rate, it is really awesome that you have so many people that care about you, and about Maddy. I’m glad that you are archiving all of this so well, so someday she will know how many people really do care. (And, so when she’s 14 and tells you that she hates you, you can look back on the cute times.
)
Happy Fathers Day, Matt—to one of the most awesomestestest dads I “know”!
so, in the effort to fully de-lurk, i finally came clean to my boyfriend about what draws me to check in on the computer so frequently, even after coming home from a desk job. (he does not have a desk job, therefor no addiction to the interweb.) i told him about your story and showed him some of the pictures.
i will share a couple of responses.
@picture of men golfing: “that dude is fucking huge” referring to the male broback – which then sent me to search for the pic of him and the tiny dog dress – great juxtaposition.
@picture of meat on grill: “now those look like some good steaks”
@picture of beer cans on garage floor: “looks like guys i’d hang out with” (if you ever come to savannah – we’ll buy you a beer and play some bocce ball, deal?)
@pic of madeline: “not all babies are cute. but she is.”
i am really pleased that sunday was such a nice day for you and your family – and all the stranger/friends. my hope for you is that peace and comfort slip into everyday moments, and then start staying longer and longer… til it just is.
Looks like an awesome party (both of them, actually). Matt, you have some serious stamina-you party like a rock star and look just fresh as a daisy for the next day’s party. Its almost like you’ve partied like that before
The pics were great, btw. I wish you would have included the one with the big hunk of steak-fat next to the beer can. I love looking at the “morning after” photos, especially the food…like the whipped cream, etc. Drunk people eat crazy stuff…
Sucks that PA is so far from MN-would have loved to wait in line for a hug from Miss M. Probably better-I’m a total baby hog…
I am so glad that your furst father’s day turned out so well.
wish i could have made it to maddy’s 1st pool party at her ‘mn garden of awesomeness’…you appeared to have had a great day on saturday and a weekend topped off with friends, stranger/friends and family. i love the gr-gma and maddy picture. precious!
enjoy the continued awesome weather here in mn…i’m afraid if you leave, you’ll take the weather with you…since the last storms blew out when you blew in.
Lovely new page, I love it. The gray background is nice, the green frond is even nicer.
glad you had a good day, hope there are more to come.
Poor Josh! Maybe he’s been forgiven by now.
What a perfect day! The morning after pictures are hilarious!
“the gold at the end of the rainbow is just around the corner!”…I think all of us could use a dose of Piper’s positive outlook in our lives. What an totally awesome kid.
How great that some of the most memorable strangers from your blog are now real life friends! I’m so happy to see you and Maddy had such a wonderful first Father’s Day!!
Oh she is smiling!! how so sweet. She does seem to love her daddy!! Sounds like a beyond perfect day!
What’s the big deal?? My house looks like that all the time! (You’d never know it from looking at her, but Piper is quite the party animal.)
Since you were “creepy” enough
to actually WANT to meet any of us, I just wish more of your readers hadn’t
chickened outhad other plans that day, so that you could have seen even more of the very real people behind all the virtual good wishes being sent your way! (And so glad you could have a really nice day, though I suspect the first Father’s Day you thought you’d have must have been weighing heavily on your mind. Such a big honkin’ raw fucking deal you got. I’m so sorry.)and @ anyone in the Twin Cities metro area:
In keeping with my compulsion to pimp my families mad skillz out for Maddy’s benefit, a donation of $50 to the Logelin fund will get you your very own robot cake! Drop a post here if you’re interested:
http://www.parentsconnect.com/connect/boards/local/twin_cities/chat_it_up.jhtml
Looks/sounds like you had a great day! Maddy is so beautiful.
Congrats on a not-as-shitty day! I know no day will be great yet, but I’m glad to see they are slowly getting a little better.
I can’t wait for the so.cal. get together – I believe there is one in the works, and I am definitely driving up from the oc to go.
You are such a great person for letting strangers/stalkers/friends into your life, you have touched us all and we are honored to “know” you.
The guy that fell asleep (passed out) sitting on the couch reminds me of myself after a brutal night w/my 1 year old. I don’t even need to be drunk to do that!
Holy crap was that house a mess! Well, I am sure the lady of the house knew what she was getting into when she agreed to even LET all of those boys come over! I am so glad you had such a good time
So happy to hear you had an awesome Father’s Day. I just adore the pic with Madeline looking up and smiling at you- you can see how much she loves her daddy.
So glad you had a great Father’s Day. Of all the father’s I know, you deserved it the most!
You make me smile Matt!
=)
THANK YOU for allowing me to get to *cyber-know* you as much as you have!
I laugh, I cry- you and Maddie are so loved:) I enjoy and appreciate all of your blog entries. You are honest and witty,brave and tender.
Glad you had a great Father’s Day!
I’m so happy to be part of your and Maddie’s extended “garden of awesomeness”. It does my heart good to see you both being loved by so many who know and love you, as well as all the “strangers” (need to practice the strike through thingie ma-boppy) Still rooting for you here in the GA!
Glad to hear you had a nice Father’s Day. By the looks of the photos and little miss maddy, she is quite the social butterfly – what a charmer! Little miss fuss who???
Hey Matt! I’m a total lurker. My parents are grief couselors and my brother died 12 years ago, so while grief sucks- I always find it interesting to see how others process through it. I love the way you embrace your grief, head-on. Anyway, all of that to say that you really need to look at that not-so-shady awning picture again. I do believe that the sky peeking through is the wing of an origami bird. Go see for yourself!
That’s just so great! I love it!
It’s incredible how much love you and your perfectly beautiful daughter are surrounded by!
Thank you so much for sharing with us!
I fucking love reading your blog!
I hope you had a wonderful Father’s Day Matt. I see some joy in your face. I know that little girl is blessing your socks off.
Always thinking of the two of you,
Amanda
Matt,
Found your blog through Glamour.com and I have thought of you and your beautiful Madeline Elizabeth everyday since.
Christina
Happy 1ST Father’s Day!!
(Just came back from Vegas with the husband and kids. Read your blog daily from the Bellagio while overlooking Caesar’s Palace – a totally cool experience!
)
Thanks for reminding me how precious time spent together really is.
Wishing you and Madeline plenty of better and brighter days (just like the pool party day!)
wow that looks like so much fun!!
I wish I wasn’t a border away and could wrap my arms around that little girl we all love SO much!!!
I totally LOL’d at the passed out drunks on the furniture. Awesome.
Looks like a great day!
Wow looks like you had such a great day! I am surprised you were up for it after the night before! Love the guy sleeping sitting up and the one with the bottle of wine by him in front of the couch!
I thought about both of you as I spent the first Fathers Day with my dad in too many years. I so wish that Liz could have been there with you, I can only imagine how special she would have made it!
aww, man.
i just have to say, while i really lost out in the mom department- she didn’t die- she just sucked, I really lucked out in the dad department. so did Madeline.
xoxo