I am so grateful to have been loved by Matt. He radiated love to everyone he met.

Everyone who has reached out to me has commented on what a genuinely kind human he was. He loved people and he befriended anyone who crossed his path. Anyone and everyone would happily engage with him and leave walking just a little lighter. He’d tell me “I know that guy from somewhere” at least once a day and it annoyed me to no end, but in truth, he probably did know them from somewhere. He helped them at Home Depot 8 years ago or served them at Bubba Gump or went to Harold Washington or IIT with them or they took the same train to work on a regular basis. He never forgot a face.

And I will never forget his. He loved me so well. My mom always said it was going to take a very special man to deal with me, and he was the most special. He was so patient and understanding. Never passing up an opportunity to encourage or tell you how much you meant to him.

He was all of this and so much more to so many people, and all while fighting his own impossible battle. Addiction is a miserable disease and he fought it with everything he had. I will never fully understand the depths of his struggle. We don’t yet know what took his life, but that struggle is over now. I was able to spend some time with him at the funeral home and he looked so peaceful. It’s a fight he can finally lay to rest.

He always wanted to help people in whatever way he could, he loved his friends unconditionally and they always knew they could call him any time for any reason. He longed to provide the relationship that he so cherished with his own dad and uncles. He wanted to coach a hockey team. He dreamed of opening a sober living house so he could provide hope to other addicts. He was so grateful for how far he had come and much he loved his life that he wanted to show those who were struggling that a full and happy life is absolutely possible.

He loved me. He loved his dog. He pretended to love my cat. But the very next thing in his heart was architecture. He had the courage to go back to school and try again after his peers had already finished. He worked so hard to get from community college to IIT. He gave it his all and absolutely blossomed, graduating and then passing his licensing exams in record time. He absolutely loved his job. He was designing buildings by writing code that I will never understand. Making renderings more beautiful than real life. Always reaching to be better. He loved tall buildings, he loved cities. He hated the cold but he loved Chicago.

He is here in this city. In her buildings and her lights and the waves. In the fog that settles in and the sun that warms the pavement.

I love you Matt. We all love you.