Dr. Donovan Graham, you were right.

This was a post I drafted more than a year ago and never published. I think it's time to get this on the record. (Moose Patrol)

Dr. Graham, I was wrong! I admit it. I realize I'm admitting it late, and that you probably aren't affected either way, but I understand now what you tried to tell me eleven years ago.

I must say that I was shocked that you were not happy for me when I told you of the headmaster job I was taking at a school near and dear to my heart back home in Maine. In fact, you seemed downright angry as you lectured me more sternly than I had ever heard you lecture me before. You warned me not to take the job. I did not see how I could turn it down at that point because I had no other alternatives that I could see. Still, you warned me.

You warned me not to believe that health insurance benefits would come along later, as had been suggested to me by my future employer that they likely would. You were right. They never did.

You warned me that the annual salary was far too low and that I would find myself living payday to payday. You said that no matter how much I loved the job, I would find it very difficult to provide for my family adequately, and I would feel obligated to stay in the job for fear of not finding another one quickly enough to keep my family afloat. You were right. We made it work for many years, and I loved the job, but when it came time to move on, we were in a tight spot.