By Sarah M. Hylton
FROM MY DIARY Jan. 2017: “Contentment is resting in who God is and where He has you. If it is years before the right ‘one’ comes into my life, it does not mean that God is being mean. It means that He loves me and that's what I need. He may need more time to prepare me for the birth of that dream…”.
6 DAYS LATER: Enter Matthew Wayne Hylton :) :) :) ...
On January 20, 2017, I came home from a long day at work. I began scrolling through Facebook and ran across a post by the Modern Day Boaz page, which is actually a support page for men who are waiting for their "Ruth" (Bible love story). I don't remember how or why I started following the page. I was only aware that I was following the Modern Day Ruth page for women who are waiting for their “Boaz.”
Anyway, I came across a couple of comments on the post that caught my eye. The author of one of the comments lived in Oklahoma, which is where I happened to be as well. But, it was the comment by a guy from Maryland that took my heart. Mind you, I wasn’t trying to use Facebook as a dating app! Lol! But God certainly had something in mind.
The Boaz post spoke of praying for your future wife even if you don't know her yet. Matt had commented, "I fight for her daily in prayer. She is my promise, my beloved, I love you and I don't even know you yet. As God has been preparing me these last 5 years, He has been preparing you for me. So our strengths hide each other's weaknesses and together WE are STRONG!! Amen! Gen. 2:22 💓 Gen. 18:14."
There was something about this that caught my heart in a special way. So, I clicked on his profile picture and proceeded to “snoop.” Lol. I think the kids today call it “creeping.” Anyway, I viewed his personal page, public figure page, and his caricature business page. I was captivated. I kept scrolling and looking for something that would make me uninterested, but I just kept seeing posts about his thoughts on God and weight loss, Godly relationships, and swimming. I learned later that about this same time he checked out my profile because he wanted to see who "liked" his comment.
Later that evening, I found myself looking at his profile again and surveying his photo albums. I kept finding things I was drawn to that expressed his heart and I just kept thinking, "This is MY heart. Those are MY thoughts. That's how I feel about this, too. That's how I feel about that, too." I decided to follow his public figure page. Also, I wound up "liking" 30+ posts in all. I didn’t realize it was that many until he told me later on. He said, “I thought, ‘Who is this chick blowing up my pages with ‘likes’ and comments?’” He didn’t know if I was a weirdo, or an awesome person! Lol! Obviously, he ended up deciding on the latter and I’m glad he did ! 😉
Throughout the night, I kept waking up and looking at his comment on the Boaz page and wondering if, perhaps, I was his "beloved." Only the Lord knew at the time. I also looked up the scripture references he'd included in his comment. I knew the references must have really meant something to him because Gen. 2:22 (and 💓) was next to every post on his page that had to do with Godly relationships, his "prophetic promise," or his "beloved."
I chuckled at Gen. 18:14 because, even though I knew he'd included it for part "a" of the verse, I thought if I was his "beloved," God has a neat sense of humor because of part "b." Lol. Here’s what I mean: Gen. 18:14 says, “Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” I knew that Matt was referencing the fact that nothing is too hard for the Lord and therefore he knew God would bring his beloved to him, but I chuckled because my name is Sarah and I have a son (actually 3) from my previous marriage.
The following morning I woke up to a private message from Matt on Facebook, politely thanking me for liking his public figure page and so many of his posts. I responded to him that his posts were truly encouraging, and that I noticed we were on similar journeys concerning weight loss and waiting on God to bring us a spouse. I explained some of my journey and he explained some of his. We ended up chatting through Facebook Messenger on and off all day, and then for 8 hours straight that night - up to 3am!
Very early in the conversation things really began to roll, we were sending long messages, sharing life stories and learning little things about each other - like favorite movies and so on. Matt brought up the idea of talking on the phone because it would be easier, but I told him I wasn't ready for that. Lol! I had never talked so much to a stranger on the internet and even though he seemed like a great person I thought there was just something too personal about giving my phone number! Lol! What if HE was a weirdo?! Well, he was a gentleman and did not pressure me about it. We went on typing for hours. Finally, at 3am I surprised him by sending him my number. What can I say? After talking off and on all day and then 8 straight hours through the night I was confident. Besides, he passed my test: In conversation I asked certain questions and made certain statements, to which his response told me what I needed to know. Anyway, I gave him my number but said not to call right then. I had to get some sleep! My kids and I had church to go to a few hours later! :)
So, we stopped messaging at approx. 3am, I got some sleep, and then we started again at 9am! He even attended church with me that morning, via live stream. We sent messages to each other throughout the service, messages like “Amen” “preach it” or “we were just talking about that last night” and so on. We were experiencing the sermon together, even though we were approximately 1,300 miles apart.
After church, I went to the store and purchased my first bluetooth. Later that afternoon, I went for my usual walk around the neighborhood and we talked on the phone for the first time. As soon as he heard my voice he said, “Stick a fork in me, I’m done! I love her, I love her.” He loved the sound of my voice. He told me later that he had been concerned that the beautiful personality that came through the texts might be overshadowed by a horrible sounding voice he wouldn’t want to listen to for the rest of his life. Lol! Of course, when he said, “I love her, I love her” I thought he was just being silly. I didn’t find out until much later that he was actually serious at that moment.
Of course, we wound up talking all afternoon and into the evening of that day. That evening, he asked me if I would like to pray and read the Bible &/or a Christian book together everyday, over the phone. Well, I didn’t say it out loud, but that’s when I said in my mind, “I love him, I love him.” That was a dream come true for me.
Soon, breakfast, Scripture, and video chat became a part of our morning routine. He even had lunch with me when I didn’t have lunch duty at school (I was an elementary teacher), and “attended” church with me each time I went. We put in over 300 hours of conversation in the first 7 weeks of our long distance relationship. Some of that included a bit of conversation with my 3 sons and some family games, via video chat.
We met in person for the first time on March 12, 2017. Matt wanted to fly out to see my sons and me, but was unable to do so at the time. So, I ventured out on my first plane ride and stayed in Maryland for a few days. Matt greeted me at the airport with a bouquet of my favorite flowers and then took me out for Chinese. The next day, we went swimming, out to eat, and shopping. I met his mother, best friend, and a few other folks during my trip. Throughout the week, Matt and I sang along with old musicals and did a lot of talking. Boy, could we talk!
Later on, when Matt was able to fly in to meet my sons, my middle son said, “You guys talk so much. Are you going to have anything left to say when you get married?” We just chuckled and told him we’d never run out of things to say to each other. To this day, Matt’s mother lovingly and emphatically tells the story about how she had trouble getting a moment to talk to him herself. Everytime she wanted to visit for a bit, he was either talking to me on the phone or video chatting with me. In reality, the only waking hours we weren’t talking were when I was spending time with my boys, teaching at school, or Matt was doing a “gig.” (He was an awesome caricature artist.)
During our long distance relationship, I was able to fly out to see him two more times. Once was paid for by the production company for TLC's "Skin Tight." Matt had lost 225lbs. naturally, by "eating right, working out hard, and serving God" (as he always put it) but the excess skin had not tightened. He was on track to have the excess skin surgically removed by Dr. Now. When the production company learned of me, they wanted to add me to the story so they flew me out for filming. You can see Matt's episode by watching Skin Tight, Season 1, Episode 11. But just so you know, while the story is true, some of the scenes are made for TV. Lol! We saw each other for the first time at the airport, not a park! And I wasn't really meeting his mother for the first time in that scene! Lol! We must have done 5 takes on that one. However, the tears in that scene are very real. That's one of my favorites. She really did accept and approve of me right from the start. ❤️
When Matt flew in for a visit, at the end of May, he surprised me at the airport with an official marriage proposal. We were already engaged, but this time he brought the diamond - the family heirloom. This time, he had all the passengers and stewardesses standing in the background ready to watch and many of them were ready with their phone cameras. I had no clue. I mean, I knew he was planning a special proposal but I didn’t know when or where. Anyway, he’d purchased some of my favorite M&M’s to use as a decoy. As soon as I met him at the gate area and we were ready to head to my car he said, “Wait! You’ve got to see what I found.” He set his large, heavy bag down and got on one knee to get the M&M’s out to show me. He held them up to my view so I could not see what else he was doing. I took the candy and as I was thanking him he pulled out the ring and opened it up and asked me to marry him! Immediately, I said, “Yes! A thousand times yes!” It was at that time that I noticed the attention of the crowd because they started clapping! LOL! Many of them took pics and sent them to Matt’s phone. Neither of us knew it at the time, but one lady even posted it on her Instagram with such sweet words about how her heart melted!
On July 31, 2017, at 2:22 p.m. we were married on Facebook Live with my oldest son as the best man and one of my friends as the maid of honor. Our plans had been to marry that following January but when Matt flew in for his second visit in July we just didn’t want him to leave! So, within about a 3 day time period we purchased our marriage license, organized clothing, flowers, etc. and finally met the officiant under a beautiful gazebo at the courthouse! A couple of weeks later, we flew back to Maryland together for a "Happily Ever After" party (wedding reception) organized by Matt's sister and family. Afterwards, we drove back to Oklahoma with Matt’s car and belongings. Plans were to have another reception party with my friends and family but those plans did not work out. Nonetheless, my family loved him. Some met him and some did not, but they knew enough about him to know he truly loved me and they were very happy for us.
After his passing, a friend of mine pointed out what a blessing it was that Matt and I did not wait until the following January to get married, because it gave us more time together before he got sick and before he went home to be with the Lord. In general, I don’t believe wedding dates should be rushed, but in this case I believe it was the blessing and guidance of the Lord. I am so thankful for the time I had with Matt even though it was so much shorter than I had expected.
Well, there is our story. The gist of it anyway. We always said it was “better than a hallmark movie.” We may have been partial...but that’s okay. :)
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