Honestly, I’m pretty damn blessed to know this him. For all of our at face value differences, we’re remarkably similar people. @mtreiber8 took a chance on me and believed in me and my research enough to endure my madness for two years as my research assistant.

Matthew’s work for me involves him playing two very different roles. In one, he executes specific tasks under my direction, but in the other, he becomes the coach of someone learning the fundamentals of a new sport. Yep, he signed up for the herculean task of teaching me Python.

Anyone who's ever taught or met me should recognize both the courage and lack of awareness Matthew possessed to agree to work with me. He likely wanted to quit after our first few meetings because I do the way most when much less will do just fine. However, he’s stubborn as hell.

Eventually, we became a team that supports each other. Matthew came to my research talks & was there to witness me befuddle Danish diplomats at a climate change & security talk. Whenever I hit a milestone or was selected for anything, he was the best hype man possible for me.

However, I grabbed the brass ring when it came to support because I got to watch Matthew play lacrosse. Yeah, my attendance at lacrosse games started as a study/writing break and I was clueless. But I soon learned and my attendance at those games became about so much more.

Matthew can be as stoic as a petrified tree, but playing lacrosse gives him joy. Few things make me happier than seeing someone for whom I care find joy. He plays with a relentlessness and intensity that makes it a pleasure to watch him. This video clip shows it perfectly (#13).

Matthew gets just as excited to tee up an assist for a teammate as he does to score. No doubt, he can be kinda abrasive and a little prickly, but it's because he wants any team that he's on to be the best it can possibly be.

Above all, Matthew is a fighter. He’s sustained some pretty significant injuries from which he’s had to rehab. If there’s one thing he hates more than being injured, it’s losing. And I hated the prospect of meeting with him after a loss. Thank God it didn’t happen often.

Ultimately, the purpose of this thread is to thank him…and embarrass him a bit. Matthew, thank you for believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself, for being the best research teammate I could have imagined; for allowing me to see you joyful.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5Fs8M6oPm4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Thank you for helping me recognize and move beyond some of my own implicit biases (he's a big geek). Finally, thank you for ensuring I’m not the grumpiest person in a room.
But honestly, I hope you realize that there's not much I would NOT do to help you succeed. Love you, MT.

And of course, there's a damn typo in the first tweet in this thread. ***to know him***