Matt is suffering. Feeling pulled down under the emotion trauma of his mother’s death many years ago and now just recently his brother’s death in Iraq, Matt has the constant hammering from his father and he feels like he is ready to explode. Matt wants some closure and he wants to find his way in the world but where and who can help him is a concept that he just cannot grasp. His father has his own issues and he seems to be not accepting of the grief that has gripped the household with the death of T.J. With his military-style parenting, the two men are at odds. When T.J.’s footlockers arrive on the scene, 17 year-old Matt feels that this might be the answer he is looking for and he needs to move fast before these treasures are snatched from his sight. Unbeknownst to his father, what he finds in these lockers takes Matt on quite an adventure of discovery for himself and his deceased brother. Did he really know his brother? Did he take the time to talk to him when he did come home, was this quality time they spent on those weekends, holiday breaks, after his tours of duty were over when he was home? Matt begins to wonder where he went wrong. For Matt, it isn’t until he puts the pieces together, does he understand that sometimes, you just have to see the whole picture of something before you really understand. And sometimes the journey you might not like, but the end results are what really matters.I thought of Matt as some tough dude that could handle anything and the confrontations that he has at school helped me design that character of Matt. Having the father he had also helped me design him as his father was also molding him into character he wanted him to be even though Matt was constantly fighting back – a losing battle but a battle nonetheless. The relationship with Shauna was “through thick and thin” and she added a softer side to Matt but she also toughened him up when he got down. I loved that in her. I never saw how the T.J.’s treasures were going to be played out until it happened and it was a total shock to me and I thought it was done tastefully and handled wonderfully. I had plenty of tissues ready and I definitely needed them. Great job on the book!"It'd be nice, to have someone who understands, when it's hard."
