What is your favorite truck?

What is your favorite truck? That is the question that everyone asks Matthew. His answer is always the same... "I don't have a favorite, I love them all!" His answer has now changed. Over the weekend, Monster Jam came to town. Since Candice Jolly was going to be there, he was wearing his Monster Mutt Dalmatian hat (one of many fun MJ hats he has). He started off the night cheering for everyone but he only made it through round one before he zoned in on Candice. He was screaming "GO CANDICE" at the top of his lungs for the rest of the show. He was mad when someone beat her and excited when she was winning. His excitement was genuine and contagious. Now, let me just tell you, we have a tiny civic center arena. These trucks can barely manage to do a donut. We just went to VEGAS. Did you catch that? Monster Jam World Finals in VEGAS and he is screaming just as loud in this little arena. A true Monster Jam fan.

Now, back to this amazing night where he found a truck/driver that he favors...... Candice won freestyle and Matthew could not have been more proud. He yelled and cheered then looked at me and said, "I knew she could do it mom!" When Candice took her award and headed up to the stands, Matthew went crazy, when he realized she was heading to him......there are no words for what happened but let me try to explain. Candace came over, handed the award to Matthew and talked to him for a minute. Excitement radiated off his entire body. You could not wipe the smile off his face. He just kept saying, "Candace heard me yelling, she came and found me." He carried this award around the civic center so he could go get her to sign it after the show. He would not let go of it. Candace signed a special note to him on it and he was so proud. He carried it to the car, got buckled in and held it all the way home. From the back seat I kept hearing "this is a dream. This HAS to be a dream! Did I REALLY get the award? Did Candice really come find me? I have GOT to be dreaming! Are you SURE this is not a dream?" I laughed and said, it is not a dream, this was all real. He finally calmed down and fell asleep in the car, when we got home, I realized that he was sleeping and still clutching the award. Precious.

When he woke up in the morning, he checked to see if he still had it and was running around yelling that it really was not a dream!  Several days later, he has taken a picture of it to school to share with his friends, told everyone he has talked to about how cool Candice is and protects the award like nothing else. Soon, we will move into a new place, where we will be able to set up his monster jam room again and he can not wait to get that award hanging in there as the main focus. Once that happens, I will be sure to put pictures here for you to see. His room looked so cool before we had to pack it away and move.

So anyway, the truth of the matter is that Matthew's life was touched by an angel and changed. Now if you ask Matthew what his favorite truck is, his answer will be "Monster Mutt Dalmatian with Candice Jolly because she is amazing and she loves me!"  That was a night he will never forget. One day in a few years when he is a Monster Jam driver with Candice, I think they will be great friends!

Thank you Candice for all you do, you are an amazing role model and a very sweet person!