“Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day - The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time” - Seneca

Admittedly, this quote is a little heavy to start my final Zones Report, but I believe it fully embodies my feelings as I come to the end of my time as not only Chair of NAFTZ, but also my time on the Board. Sadness and regret at the end of a role is a byproduct of the feeling of not being able to accomplish what you set out to do. As I walk away to help the association as a past chair and volunteer, I feel no sadness or regret. While we may not have accomplished every single thing we set out to do, we absolutely did our very best; and I leave any unfinished business to a board that can take where we left off without missing a beat.

Enter the chat: this is usually the place in which the outgoing Chair attempts to humbly brag about the accomplishments that took place under their time in leadership. While in the last twelve months we have seen great accomplishments for the association that include (but are not limited to, slight humble brag):  attendance to events almost up to pre-covid numbers, membership set to bypass record levels by the end of this year or next, and our voice in our communities and DC being heard in ways it hasn’t in the recent past; I’d rather use my limited time and text to thank those who helped get to this point instead.

My fellow Grantee collogues who have always helped me in our pursuits to make the program more accessible to the local communities: Angie Atwood, Torrey Chambliss, and Denise Yanez have always been willing to work and do whatever they can when called upon. Leigh Ryan and Miguel Zamora, on our current board, have helped the association bring real perspective on some very tough issues, and I can’t say how much I appreciate that effort.  A special “Grantee shoutout” to Patty Cannon for all of the roles she has played in my years of being a board member. Not only has she held numerous unnamed volunteer roles, she has displayed a willingness to do whatever is best for the associate in my time as Chair, and I am eternally grateful for her dedication and selflessness.

To all of the past Chairs and board members: I thank you for the work you have done to get us to where we are today. As I said in my acceptance back in Miami last September, I followed a line of strong female leadership in Rebecca Williams, Eva Tomlinson, Frankie Bryson and Melissa Irmen, and I tried to take a lot of what they offered the association in their time and make it my own. I hope I made each of them proud with the work we accomplished and completed.

When I was young, my parents instilled in me the concept that I may not be able to control everything that happens to me in life, but you can always leave things better than when you found them.  I truly believe we have done that with the association this year. We are growing, we are healthy financially, and we have vision. I look forward to seeing the next step that NAFTZ takes.

In one of my first Zones Report articles, I used “The Boss” as an example, so I see it fitting to finish my final article with a Bruce Springsteen story. As I have said before, I believe what he spent his career writing about, the plight of “working America, coincides with the FTZ mission of creating jobs and economic opportunity. In the 1984 album, “Born in the U.S.A”, Bruce Springsteen worked on the music for two years and was ready to release it to the public. However, in the final weeks his manager kept telling him it lacked a real single. Upset to the point of almost firing his manager, he almost released the album as is; but after looking at what the criticism was pointed at, he penned “Dancing in the Dark” in a single night. This song was written as reflection on how he had accomplished so much and was ready to do more, but in a different way. It’s about how passion and vision light the way, even when it seems too dark to see that way. So, in the same vein, I will leave some of the lyrics as reflection on my time on the board and now in my new role of volunteer and former Chair. We don’t know exactly what is in front of us, but we have a vision, and we have the collective passion to lead the way… even when we are tired and the path seems unclear.

I get up in the evening
And I ain't got nothing to say
I come home in the morning
I go to bed feeling the same way….

You can't start a fire
You can't start a fire without a spark
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark…

You sit around getting older
There's a joke here somewhere and it's on me
I'll shake this world off my shoulders
Come on, baby, the laugh's on me

Stay on the streets of this town
And they'll be carving you up, all right
They say you gotta stay hungry
Hey baby, I'm just about starving tonight…

You can't start a fire
Sitting around crying over a broken heart
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark

You can't start a fire
Worrying about your little world falling apart
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark