"Yeah, it's not as bad as I thought it'd be, at first," he agreed. "There are some people I'd miss here once we get home."

The compliment went right over his head, but a lot of things did.

"There's like, a little less pressure here, too," he added. Sure, there was pressure to help people, but it was different than the career kind of pressure, the expectations he'd been holding himself too back home.