Meet Our Treasurer
My name is Paul Harlan, 851 Nottingham Drive. By day I work for Robins Financial Credit Union as a loan processor, by night I'm a husband, father, and novice handyman. My family moved into North Highlands May of 2020. My family consists of me, my wife Sophia, my daughter Karis, and my mother Laura. For me personally, this will make my 20th something move in my 34 years of life. I have hopes though that this move will stand out among the rest. Not because it's the first house I've purchased or where I've started raising my kids, but because I'm hoping this becomes a place of deep community. I've lived on several streets, a couple of apartment complexes, duplexes, I've even lived overseas, but I don't think I've lived in a neighborhood, the kind you watch in movies and tv shows.
My wife and I moved to Macon in the Fall of 2014. We lived in an apartment complex in North Macon and later rented a small house on North Pierce Ave. Each move though severely lacked the type of community we hoped for. When we moved to Nottingham Dr. we could tell something was different. Even in the height of COVID people would wave, from distance of course, introduce themselves and promised to stop by when things got better.
I've had plenty of time to think about being a neighbor and what makes a good neighborhood. If you'll indulge me a brief second I'd like to share a text from the Bible. In Luke 10 Jesus answers a person's question with this statement "27 ...“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” This person responds to Jesus with "Who is my neighbor?". Jesus tells a parable about a man who was beat up. Several people passed him on the road but one stopped to help him and bandage his wounds. Jesus asked his listeners who was being a neighbor to this man and they answered "the one who had mercy".
Why do I bring this up? Being a neighbor is more than just a position or location. Its about caring, investing, taking time, it’s about action. So a neighborhood is a group of people actively being neighbors (loving, caring, investing and working together). This is why I joined the North Highlands Neighborhood Association and also why I volunteered to become the Treasurer. This is why we recently opened our home to meet our neighbors. We want to work hard to be good neighbors.
So if you are traveling down Nottingham Dr and see me cutting grass, my wife watering her plants or my daughter playing, stop by and say hello, sit down and have a drink and maybe even a snack. Let’s make this a great neighborhood. I hope to meet all of you soon!