Creating Making Ends Meet took the better part of two years, and I know it would not exist without the love and support showed to me during, before and after writing my book. I’d like to use this page to acknowledge those people. Please keep us all in your prayers!

First, I give all the glory and praise to God! He created me, loves me and fills me with life. He’s blessed me beyond belief! He gave me motivation to write and share my story. He guided my mind to create the characters and vision for the plotlines. My fingers to type, and my eyes to see the words. He blessed me with the people in my life who have helped me immeasurably. I seek only to know, to love and to serve our Lord Jesus. Thank you for bringing me home!

Thank you to the living, universal church founded by Christ. Thank you Pope Leo XIV, The Dioceses of Manchester, and Sacred Heart Parish. Thank you to Father Charles, Wayne, Kelly, Jim, and the rest of the parishioners I’m blessed to share our community with! Thank you to those whom have gone before us in God’s grace. Thank you for your prayers and intercession, Mother Mary, Saint Matthew, Saint Peter, Saint Joseph, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and a special thanks to Saint Paul.

My Loving Wife,

Merry, you are the love of my life, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of it with you! You are just as much a part of this book as I am. Thank you for your constant love, care and support. It was you who softened my heart to allow God back in! It was our love and relationship that encouraged me to write. In the days where I felt like tearing it up and quitting, you were there to help me through the challenges and setbacks. You thoughtfully listen to all my jumbled ramblings, and help me make sense of myself! For everything you do, and everything you are to me, thank you, my love, Merry.

Thank you to the Tatro family for welcoming me with open and loving arms! Dick and Evelyn, you raised an incredible woman and entrusted me with her care and protection. Bethany, Philip, Bryon, Patch, Jeremy, Tegan, Sawyer, Jeremy, and the rest of the Tatro family for all the love and encouragement. I love you all!

To my loving family,

Mom, Dad, I love you dearly and thank you for all you’ve done and sacrificed for me. Time, money, opportunities…all things you gave up to provide for Andrew and I. Thank you for teaching me, keeping me safe and well, healthy and provided for. Thank you for loving me, even when I wasn’t the best son or brother. Thank you most of all for raising me in the Faith. You kindled the flame when I was a child, now I’ve grown to a man on fire.

Andrew, we’ve learned and taught each other more than any class ever can. When we were young, you looked up to me for everything. You inspired me to be someone worth looking up to. I haven’t always been that, but I’m ever working to be the man God wants me to be.

To everyone I’ve had the joy of calling my friend,

Thank you for your support, friendship, laughs and love. You’ve all had a hand in helping me become who I am today, and likewise helping me reach for my dream! I’m truly blessed to have met you and have you in my life. Couldn’t have reached for this without you! If you read it, I hope you get all the ‘Matt-isms’ in it! Thanks again and God bless!

Special thanks to,

Will, thank you for your constant support and creative critique. Thanks for being my whiteboard to bounce ideas off. You always have my back, from hunting to writing you’re there!

Zach and Jess, thanks for teaching me to have more of a spine, to stick up and advocate for myself. Thanks for getting me into hockey and being grad school battle buddies! Wouldn’t have made it without you and Tim!

Tim, thanks for encouraging my creativity! Thanks for getting me into D&D, and the great campaigns we had. I learned a lot about storytelling, especially as a first time DM.

Alice, thanks for teaching me to chase my goals, no matter the challenge. I put up too many of my own obstacles at times and you’ve helped me clear them away. Thanks for being a great friend, it was awesome working with you on our projects!

Swetha, thank you for helping me to be kinder to myself. You were never a fan of my self deprecating jokes, and saw through how I treated myself. You helped me to see myself for who I am, both flaws and features. Couldn’t have asked for a better lab mate and friend!

Emilia, thank you for our endless brainstorming sessions! You taught me a lot about programing and computers, but even more about pushing my creativity!Emilia, thank you for our endless brainstorming sessions! You taught me a lot about programing and computers, but even more about pushing my creativity!

The Nadell lab, Thank you Ben, Emilia, Katy, Sophia, Jake, and Jay for everything we learned together, and all we’ve taught each other. It was a blast thinking up new experiments, troubleshooting, looking at data and cracking the celebration beers!

Coney, thank you for kindling my spirit of adventure! Thanks for teaching me to go with the flow, adapt and to not be afraid of social situations. I could write a book from all our UM adventures (don’t worry I wont).

Briel, thanks for being the voice of reason! Whenever Coney and I got a crazy idea going, you were there to tell us things like ‘the floor structure won’t hold a hot tub!’. And the quiet ones always have the best jokes!

Thanks to Nick Estes and Estes and Gallup for giving me a great opportunity to work and expand my carpentry skills. Thanks to Matt, Kobe, Ashton, Kyle, Austin, Bill, Larry, James, John, Jason, Woody, Melvin, Calvin and the rest of the crew! Just met you guys, but you’ve taken me in. It’s great working with y’all every day!

Rhyne and Margret, Thank you both for your constant, enthusiastic support of Merry and I and our book!

Thanks to the Foremost crew, Mike, Tony, Doug, Jon, Chase, Travis, Joaquim, Amy, Lois, Kelsey, Matt, and Becky-lynn for getting me started in my new career, teaching me, and all your interest in my book! I wrote a lot of it while working with you all, thank you!

Dave, thanks for teaching me to trust my instincts and learn on the fly. Learning a trade isn’t easy, but I got the best start I could. Thank you for the opportunity, and the wisdom.

To my academic advisors and teachers,

Dr. Nadell,

Carey, thank you for taking me on as one of your first students and mentoring me through grad school. You helped hone my critical thinking, reading, and writing skills, and taught me immeasurably about ecology and microbiology. We discovered incredible data together, sharing big smiles at the microscope! You let me use my creativity to design all sorts of experiments and tools for the lab. I hope you see my time in lab show through the pages!

Dr. Munson,

I was a nervous, naive, freshman asking for a spot in your lab. You saw it as an opportunity to teach me from the ground up. You taught me as much as I was willing to learn, about genetics, microbes and infections. I won’t forget the days of counting 4000 petri dishes or running to your office when my wester blots finally worked! You fostered my love of microbes, and showed me the ropes in a lab! Thank you!

Mr. Toy

P.E.R.S.I.A, Political, economic, religious, social, intellectual and artistic. Still haven’t forgotten your lessons about analyzing civilizations from AP. Euro! In fact, it was of great importance when I contemplated the ‘world’ I was building. To craft a realistic fiction world, it needed each of those elements, and they needed to interact. Thanks for all you taught me!

Mrs. Fritz

No english teacher was more formative on my writing than you! Your own love of literature showed through in every lesson. Creative lesson plans helped me understand grammar, sentence structure and tenses. You set me up for a successful scholastic career from high school through grad school, thank you!

Special Thanks to all of the talented and kind members at Spines Publishing! Their hybrid approach gave me everything I wanted and needed, without the overbearing nature of traditional publishing. With in house editing, graphic design and automated formatting, I was able to get services I wouldn’t have otherwise had the funds or time to pursue. Handling printing and distribution also frees me up to start working on my next novel! Truly, thank you for all your hard work and patience, you are helping bring my dream alive!