"We're in the Short Rows Now"

This summer marks five years since Anna and I moved back to North Carolina. Though that choice was the product of months of conversation, transition is always tough. Many, many friends and family helped to welcome us home; but one of them deserves some special recognition today.

That July, a new colleague named Sara Price came out to Greenville to take me to B's BBQ and learn more about me and my passion for the rural South. After our lunch amidst the blistering heat and swarming flies --- I know this will sound weird --- I knew I was headed in the right direction.

A year later, I joined her growing alumni team, which was focused on supporting the hundreds of Teach For America alumni in Eastern NC. Since then, we've driven all over, worked long hours, and done our best to make good things happen. She's also helped steward my career through a lot --- new projects, surprising failures, organizational transition, a master's degree, and parenthood. Through it all, she treated me as an equal who could always strive for more. She's also taught me some incredible idioms that I'll carry with me --- among them "shot out of a cannon," "in the short rows," and "the long-short is." I hope that I've been just as helpful to her because, after 6 1/2 years of work at TFA-ENC, Sara is moving on to new adventures in education.

I will miss having the chance to work with someone who so regularly conducts herself with such integrity, sincerity, and decency; but I'm grateful for the work we shared and am looking forward to more good times to come!

If you know Sara, I hope you'll join me in wishing her well. Sara, you will be missed!