As I reflect back over my four-year tenure on the NCFR Board I am reminded of two adages we have all probably heard or used ourselves, "time flies" and "time stands still." This thing called time is a funny thing that reflects two sides of a coin. It is here and always exists, yet it seems so fleeting and is gone before you know it. For the young, time often moves slowly, particularly when we are waiting for our birthday or thinking that a holiday or summer vacation will never come. In contrast, for those who are older, time moves so quickly that we make statements like "please give me more time" or "wow, time just flew by," or "if only I could slow down time!"

For those of us in the family field, we are particularly cognizant of the pattern of time. There is birth, growth, and eventually death. A child is born and grows into childhood, which is followed by adolescence and young adulthood. That moves into middle age and eventually concludes with old age. Everything is fixed in some manner to a time-frame. So for my presidency, I want to briefly remember and acknowledge those who were centrally involved during that time.

I wrote one of my column's on the role of mentoring in an organization. Clearly one of my strongest mentors for undertaking the responsibility of NCFR president was my predecessor in this position, Gary Bowen. Gary modeled for me the importance of patience, listening to all perspectives, and maintaining a sense of humor; I have attempted to implement that these past two years.

I have been fortunate to have a Board that was thoughtful, encouraging and willing to take risks by sometimes asking hard questions, taking difficult stands, and trying new initiatives. There is a reason why these Board members were elected to represent the NCFR membership. Each brought his or her own perspective and expertise, while listening to fellow Board members. They were able to work together and speak as one voice, which is sometimes not easy when there are differences represented.

I want to acknowledge each of them for their professionalism and contributions and thank them for their service to NCFR. In the first year of my Presidency, the eight members of the Board were Rose Allen, Paul Amato, Andrew Behnke, Joyce Chang, Brad van Eeden-Moorefield, Carolyn Henry, Jennifer Hardesty, and Maureen Perry-Jenkins. In the second year, with the election of a new Student/New Professional representative, Andrew rotated off and Lyndal Khaw joined the Board. This year, Rose, Jennifer and Maureen will leave the Board with me, and newly elected members joining the remaining members will be Bill Allen, Frank Fincham, Hilary Rose, Rebecca Ward, and Rachel Engler. Under the leadership of Paul Amato, the incoming president, I am sure this group of NCFR Board members will carry forward the tradition of serving the membership well and moving us forward.

The staff of NCFR are centrally important to the success of our organization and the work of the Board. Without this dedicated group of individuals, NCFR would struggle to survive. Diane Cushman is a consummate leader, who is always thinking about the welfare of the organization, recognizing our strengths, identifying new areas of exploration, and challenging us to be better. In her relatively short time as the Executive Director of NCFR, she has managed us into an era of stability and a future of great opportunity. The other staff person the Board works with most closely is Jeanne Strand, whose major responsibilities include managing the governance of the organization. I am sure that many of you who have served on various NCFR committees have also experienced the quiet ways of Jeanne, where she reminds us of what to do, gives us suggestions, and then tactfully shepherds us forward. Further, all of the other staff with whom the Board has contact are very responsive to our needs and make us look good, but most importantly, they are serving NCFR well. I respect them all and thank them dearly. I have enjoyed working with them all.

I have shared in previous columns information about numbers of the innovative activities the Board has implemented these past two years. I will not review all of those actions here but will say I think we have moved the organization forward in our emphases on increased engagement and activities for our sections, elevating the role of NCFR in our policy discourse, and the development of international opportunities and partnerships.

I also want to say I had the pleasure of awarding the NCFR President's Award, given by the presidents in their second year, to an NCFR member they deem to have advanced the organization, whose work is aligned with the president's initiatives, and who deserves recognition for her or his contributions and significant service. I chose Dr. Karen Bogenschneider, University of Wisconsin, to be the recipient of the award during my term. Many of you may know Karen and know something about her work, most likely because she has consistently made major contributions to NCFR for the past 20 years. She was instrumental in starting the Family Impact Seminars at the state level and now mentors over 25 states who are members of this partnership. Further, she personally has presented seminars every year at the annual conference to our members on strategies for conducting policy initiatives utilizing the Family Impact Seminar model. Karen also has written the policy article in the past two NCFR decade review journal issues. Her scholarship and high energy and enthusiasm for bringing and expanding a policy focus to the NCFR is commendable and for that we recognized her at the annual conference this year in San Antonio.

This year, 2013, we honored the marching of time with our celebration of NCFR's 75th anniversary. What a memorable celebration it has been. For those of us who are part of the Legacy Circle (membership over 25 years) we ask how is it possible for time to have moved so quickly? And for those of us who have been members 40-plus years, including myself, we now acknowledge that we have been part of NCFR over half of the lifetime of our organization! But for those of you who have more recently joined this community of scholars and professionals, you have a wonderful journey ahead toward celebrating 100 years of scholarship with NCFR.

I thank you for bestowing on me the honor of being NCFR's 63rd president. I am humbled to join the ranks with an esteemed group of past presidents. As many of you know, my own mother lived to be over 103 years of age. Thus, I believe I have some history of longevity and can look forward to continuing my own journey with NCFR and with you over the next quarter century in order to reach 100 years with NCFR as the premier professional organization that works on behalf of families.