All of your days...

Matthew Wadleigh was a light and beautiful spirit who lived and loved for 30 years on this earth.

He was someone who truly engaged in the moments of each day with a sense of inner peace, joy, love and a grand respect for life.

Since his passing in early June 2009, his legacy is living on with an image he created during his life based on a vision he had to create a sign that simply read “LOVE.”

Matt was deeply and joyfully drawn to the music of the Dave Matthews Band for half of his life, and it was at Dave’s concerts that he would hold up his “LOVE” sign for the band and the rest of the audience to see.

It was a gesture of thanks to the band, as well as a declaration of all he felt inside his heart for the music, for this experience of life and for the true value of living in LOVE.

At his memorial, I was able to read a letter that Dave himself had written to all of Matt’s loved ones, as he remembered him fondly.

Also at the memorial that day, we handed out LoVE pins in his honor.

The Matthew Wadleigh Love Foundation was created by his family, and can be visited online at www.mylovesign.com. Here, you can purchase these pins as a donation to the Foundation which will award a loving and kind person in need a monetary gift each year.

I invite you to purchase your own LoVE pins for yourself and your community. It is my hope that in wearing a pin that says “LoVE” on it, you might feel what Matt felt as he held up his sign as an expression of what we’re all here for, to live a life of LoVE.

For many years, I had the complete honor and joy of being one of Matt’s best friends. Our friendship began through adventures in music and pondering life’s biggest questions together at a young age.

We continued to be there for each other through the many stages of life, and he always nurtured our connection in the most thoughtful and generous ways. I can very honestly say that Matt loved me more than any one friend ever has, and now in his passing, I see even more clearly how much there was to learn from him about love.

One of my earliest memories of us was when we were 15 yrs. old, and we were standing together one night, in the moonlight, gazing up and talking...thinking the same things out loud together...wondering about the same questions of our existence...and feeling the same joy and comfort of finding someone in life we could openly and safely dream all our biggest dreams with...

So, in honor of my beautiful friend, I will continue to live my dream, and continue to fulfill his dream...which was simply to spread the message of LoVE.

And with every day that he is gone, I am reminded more and more that we’re never truly gone, as each one of us becomes a real and true part of those we love.

So, for my first entry on this brand new blog, i will say...

Love is sharing.

Sharing our joy, our hearts, and our dreams.