.244 Matt Scott
This post involves a pretty wonderful story, starting with the fact that I actually “thanked” Matt for my first iteration of this project in 2013 (making him the first and only to be in both projects :). A few months after that, however, I received a mysterious gift at the foot of my dorm room door. Opening it revealed what would become one of the most kind gifts and gestures I have ever received.
The gift was a hand-bound book enclosed with letters, each given a dedicated page, that came from people I had spoken to for my year-long gratitude project. Each person that participated had taken the time to write a piece about me, almost as a “returning the gratitude” moment from our prior conversations and my blog posts about them. This incredible gift that I held in my hands was because Matt had taken the time to not only think of the creative idea, but also to execute it, reaching out to as many people as he could from my list of 365 in hopes of gathering such kind words and sentiments for me. To be honest, I’m still not sure what strikes me most between the physical gift or the intent/thought behind it. Plus, the time it likely took to round them up, print them out, paste them to the pages… all of it just stands out to me as incredibly kind and out-of-this-world generous. Before this, Matt was always such a compassionate and empathetic person, filled with such sweetness and genuine positivity. This gift, however, was the cherry on top to such a loving human being, and I am truly, and always will be, so very grateful.
Matt, thank you so, so much for giving me such a time capsule of kindness and love from so many people in my life that I hold dear. Thank you for going out of your way to do such a thing, and thank you for the time it took to do so. Thank you for reminding me of the value of being complimented and being told “thank you,” especially since it was always right in front of me (given the project), but something about seeing it in writing from so many special people really made it hit home. Thank you for being such a selfless and caring friend and for being so special with your energy and your magic. Thank you for the book that still sits in my drawer to this day. You’ve given me a gift that will always give more and more as time goes on. Thank you, Matt, for being you.
-BD