vertical alignment in a table cell

I have a table with a row that has two cells.  The first cell contains a single word and the second contains a textarea box that has some height.  I know the height of the first <td>, with the word, will be the same as the larger height of the second <td>, with the textarea.  But I notice that the single word text in the first td sinks to the bottom of that td, when I would like it to appear at the top of that td.  Is there an easy way to style that?

Thanks
Steve