Change. (May 2022 Chair's Column)

Change.

It seems that Spring brings about a busy travel season for our profession. I’ve gotten used to the rhythm of the season, culminating with GEDA’s Spring Workshop in mid-May (and followed by my family’s annual Memorial Day/post-School Year beach weekend). I recently returned from a conference, driving up to our old farmhouse in Bulloch County, and spotted my 1993 Ford F-150 pickup. I couldn’t help but smile and reminisce a bit.

This old truck belonged to my grandfather. We called him “Papa Johnny” – Papa for grandfather, and “Johnny” because my mom called him Johnny, as he was my grandmother’s second husband. When he passed away in 2003, I asked my Mom if I could purchase the truck from his estate. That pickup, and Papa Johnny’s memory, meant a lot to me. I didn’t want to let go of that if I could help it.

He taught me to fish. At around dawn on Saturday mornings, we’d put his johnboat in the bed of an earlier version of the Ford – it had the extra-long bed – and drive it to a pond near Brooklet. We’d fish for bream and redbreast, and we’d eat Vienna sausages and saltines mid-morning. It was an 8-year old’s dream day. He was a Mail Carrier for the US Post Office. He was a Marine in WW2 in the Pacific Theater – he was very humble about it, but he would sometimes show us the enemy flag he captured. He owned a nursery in retirement and propagated camellias. All of my family members have camellias named after us. My sister is still a little bothered that my bloom is prettier than hers.

When I was that 8-year-old boy, I’d spend weekends with my grandparents in Brooklet. They lived on a highway, but traffic was scarce – just a few cars each day, and as many tractors in the summer and fall. A few years after I got the truck, I inherited the house and nursery, and lived there for a while. The traffic now is heavy. Our rural County is growing with our University and people moving further away from the nearby Savannah metro and coming to Bulloch. Things are changing.

Our jobs are often at the leading edge of change. Businesses that are expanding or relocating are often drivers of change, and we work hard to support their success. It’s often up to us to introduce that change to the places where we live, to help our fellow citizens understand the benefits of growth even in the face of change. It’s among the hardest things we have to do.

But like my old pickup truck, which I still call “Papa Johnny’s truck,” time will catch up. I can only drive the pickup 5-10 miles at a time. The speedometer doesn’t work, so I make my best guess on speed. The EV Revolution will get here soon, as we’ll discuss on Jekyll later this month, and the pickup will pass into history soon. In the meantime, let’s continue to embrace change together and help our places embrace it, too.

Have a great month, everyone – see you on Jekyll.