THIS….Perfect for you, it was still dependent at any time, I’m not even timid bull,…

Is awesome.

I’m not even timid bull…..

Congrats! That’s awesome!

yep – continued awesomeness

Congratulations! Your story is so moving and I’m sure that will translate in every language.

That’s an awesome stack of books! And I think the Japanese version cover is so sweet! I would frame a picture of it. Congrats.

I don’t know any Japanese
… but the cover is beautiful

Love the cover of that version.

it’s a tough word that, depending on context, can also mean playback (as in to play a cd or dvd). unfortunately, google has no sense of context and has no idea it should have picked recovery/rebirth/growth!

japanese also tends to leave out the subject of sentences, and i wonder if “maddy” is the unwritten subject of the first line? something like, “until you made me a daddy: a single father’s first year of tears and recovery/rebirth.”

also, in general, i think english lends itself to much more poetic word choice than japanese, which makes for an awkward reverse translation back into english.

am sitting in a coffee shop trying to make (albeit stumbling) my way through the japanese version!

Also, Matthew Rogerin. Matthew Rogerin, the forthright bull.

I still need to order it for my kindle, I haven’t read it yet but I’m dying to.

Love it! I lived in Okinawa, Japan for 3 yrs.

Would love a copy! (no giveaways) lol
I have both the hardcover and paper back.

Best to you, Brooke and Maddy!

Love that your name is “Matthew Rogerin.” That is hysterical.

I read your book, though unfortunately it may now be unreadable as the pages were not waterproof. Seriously, what a beautifully written, emotional tribute to your wife. There was one passage in particular that really put me over the edge, where you were talking about how you’d figured out you’d mourn her for the rest of your life and this memory is now apart of your DNA and you’ll carry it with you all the time…I was honestly sobbing. And how you said you wouldn’t move on, you’d move through…it was just beautiful. All of it. I’m in awe of how you’ve continued on in your life after losing the love of yours. Thank you for sharing your family. Both your daughter and wife are so very beautiful and look so alike. It must bring you such comfort.

Matt, I read your blog faithfully for two years. I cried then, and I bawled reading your book. Such raw, honesty. I loved every single page. It was even more special because I already knew the story, but not really, as you said you held back so much. But it was like reading my friend’s book.
The scene of you and Candee bawling in the kitchen at Thanksgiving ripped my heart out. Grieving is a messy process, but you made it so incredibly poetic. What a sweet, sweet treasure to write for Maddy.
The picture on the cover is stunning. She may have Liz’s eyes and coloring {love how you said you see so much of Liz in Maddy… “The blonde hair she paid so much to have.”} but that little girl looks like you. She’s a beautiful blend of her mommy and daddy.
Congrats on the book. It’s awesome, and I’m sure I’ll pass mine on to the woman I met at a Bible study today who lost her husband a year ago, unexpectedly, leaving her with a 2 and 7 year old.
Well done, friend {hope I can call you that?}
Blessings to you and Maddy.

That cover is gorgeous! I wish I could get that version here!

Congratulations! The cover is adorable!!!

Hi! I work with Proctor and Gamble at DeVries PR and we would love to have you on the list of prefered dad bloggers to communicate with. In order for this to happen we need your permission to contact you. Please email me at Mgaier@devries-pr.com if you are interested! Thanks and we look forward to hearing from you!
Sincerely,
Marissa Gaier

I have just recently started reading your blog and read it from start to finish in 3 days. I am so proud of what you have accomplished. You have taught your daughter the most important things in life. Live, laugh and love. I am sure liz would be proud. I check in daily, hoping for more. Guess I need to start following you on twitter!
Keep up the good work with you, and your family.

Ahh Matt, I have to share what I just saw even though I know I probably shouldn’t because it might offend someone, so you’ll probably want to read and then delete, but it has me cracking up. I was on Goodreads, and when I went to add your book, I found myself reading through your reviews. Your reviews are all awesome unless it’s some 90 year old complaining about the language or something, but I saw this one woman’s review who was like, “The hardest thing for me reading the book…” and then it says ‘see more’ and I click it thinking, you know, she’s going to say the chapter where Liz dies or the letter at the end or something normal – NO. She says, “The hardest thing for me reading the book, was that despite knowing Liz and Matt aren’t believers, I had a really hard time accepting that while reading the book. I felt so incredibly sad that they aren’t Christians and won’t have eternal life. I think reading of Liz’s death and being a parent myself, especially with a young baby this really hit me hard. It makes me so sad thinking that Maddy will never meet her mother….now, or after her death on Earth.” THAT’S the saddest thing about the book? That hit you the hardest? Really? Like, there is seriously someone in this world who read your book and was like, “Such a shame they won’t live forever like my family will.” PEOPLE KILL ME. Okay, I’m done being mean (if there’s a hell, I’ll def be amongst the flames). I just had to share it with you, because I think you’ll see the humor. XD

Where do I begin?

Your book was AMAZING. “I met my future wife, the future mother of my child, at a gas station” was the most perfect opener; it drew me right in to your story. I love the way you described your wife – vibrant, beautiful, a light – but so too, stubborn, intelligent, able to command a room full of businessmen while wearing high heels and sporting carefully maintained blonde hair. She was a strong-willed spitfire and that would scare a number of men, but you loved that most of all. But neither of you were perfect, and I LOVED that too. You spend a great many pages after her death beating yourself up over your husbandly failures – you didn’t let her have those Christmas lights, you went to a concert when she was ill, you were on a work assignment during her last birthday – and yet, you completely ignore your successes. You give her a proposal so happy she scares passerby with her excited screams, you give her the wedding and home and travels of her dreams, you venture out into the streets of Bangalore for Christmas decorations to surprise her when she arrives for your mutual first holiday away from home, you never let her spend a night alone in the hospital, you crawl into her hospital bed alongside her and hug her close when the fear over Maddy’s health gets to be too much – hell, you even empty her bedpan, though not without a little teasing, of course! And on that completely unfair final day with her – a day that is ironically a Tuesday, the same day you met her – your last moments with her are just as they always were: you supporting her (literally), teasing her, making her laugh. While you soon witnessed a nightmare that you’ll never forget, losing the light in your life, I think it stands to be remembered that Liz’s final memory was that of her husband lovingly teasing her, laughing with her, and yes, holding her, while on her way to see their new daughter. Many who live to be 100 do not leave this world with the kind of full heart Liz surely held.

I sobbed with you as you learn to raise a baby alone, as you travel, remember, and as you reached the most moving of realizations: “I figured out that I would mourn Liz for the rest of my life. I figured out that it would get easier to mourn her. I figured out that the unending anguish I felt would eventually become less intolerable. It would get more comfortable, this memory that I carried. It would fold itself into my blood, into my cells, into my DNA. My heart would pump it and my veins would carry it, every moment, all the time.” Then, you switch your wedding ring to your right hand, forever a signal of your unending memory, and attempt a telepathic message to wherever your Liz may rest – you’ll never move on. But you will continue – for yourself and Maddy, but also, for Liz.

Tell me, again, that you are not a writer?
Thank you, Matt, for sharing your beautiful soul with the world, your beautiful family. Though I wish it never had to happen this way, what a gift you’ve made it into. Your daughter will be proud to call you her father, and Liz her mother. Such a beautiful living testament she is to a love beyond death.

Does this mean you’ll be coming to Japan for a signing? PLEASE?!?!?!?!?! Tokyo is FREAKIN’ AMAZING!!!!!!! You guys will love it!!!!! Did I say…….PLEASE?!?!?!?!?!

Matt, I read your book while travelling on my family vacation recently. I couldn’t put it down and was balling my eyes out by the time I was halfway through!! It is awesome what you do for Maddy to make sure she gets the influences of both mom and dad wrapped up in one person!! Good job thus far & Good Luck!!

There will be a “Dos besos para Maddy”?
I can perfectly read you in english. But you know… I needed to ask