I don't remember the name of the place, but what happened there was so loving that it will never be forgotten. My son, Matt, deserves all the credit.
I walked upstairs to the second floor of this popular Chicago bar, a place on Sheffield between Belmont and Addison. Matt and his gorgeous fiancee, Stacey, were experts at knowing all the trendy places in town. Still are.
I was headed for a party of friends to celebrate the upcoming marriage of Matt and Stacey. Arriving when the party began, as my wonderful Greek Mother had raised me to do, I soon realized that I was the only parent at the party. I wondered a bit whether I would be lonely in the hours ahead.
Matt's Mother, a truly outstanding woman, had died almost eight years before. She launched Matt on his successful journey through life with the greatest energy and dedication.
The room I entered was big, clean and well-lit with a bar in the back half of the room. Matt and Stacey, the couple with "movie star looks" as my dear friend Pam has said, greeted me with warm hugs.
Soon the room filled with 75 friends, who I knew immediately to be among the most talented and attractive youth of Chicago. I knew quite a few of these people through Matt's days at St. Ignatius, hockey career and fraternity life at Illinois. They were fun. They worked hard, played hard and were very dedicated to each other as friends. I always admired this group---they had a great balance in their lives---and they took very good care of one another in honoring each other at important times in each others' lives.
For the entire time that I was at the party my son treated me with the greatest kindness and hospitality you could imagine. He spent all that time with me visiting with the people I knew and helping me meet all the others. I was an honored guest. I was deeply touched and think of that evening often as a great expression of love and kindness.
As if the evening was not thrilling enough, toward the end of my stay, I was visiting with Matt's friend, Joe Walsh (now a successful young physician). Joe was always a young man with a fine affection for family--both his own and those of his friends. As we were telling stories about Matt, he told me that my son "was universally loved." I went directly into orbiting the moon upon hearing that.
Matt is loved because he knows how to love me and others so well. He is a gift to all of us.
Voltaire
