This is a picture of Matt and I a couple years ago while we were in Huntsville, Alabama visiting a friend. Matt’s my best friend, we’ve known each other since I was sixteen and he was seventeen. We immediately clicked. We have done some traveling together through the years, ranging from winter trips to Niagara Falls to road trips down to New Orleans, where I am in school. He even flew to meet me a couple summers ago when I was studying in Ireland. I love traveling with Matt because he loves the experience for itself, not for the destination. It lights him up to be able to see new places. He has this ability to soak it all in and fully appreciate his surroundings. We can have a wonderful time no matter where the destination is, but there is a specific reason why I would love to travel with him to Australia. Neither of us has ever been, but I remember being younger and listening to him go on and on about the Australian coast. He would fantasize about becoming a marine biologist, or a scuba instructor if that did not work out.
Winning this trip would be making his dream of seeing the Australian coast come true, and a sign of how much I appreciate him being there for me over the years. He is working so hard right now, putting himself through college to become a physical therapist. I am so proud of how far he has come in the last six years. He has completely turned his life around, and this would be the perfect gift to reward him.