by Nick Jacobs

It's Christmas Eve and, without being sentimental, it would be an understatement for me to tell you that I'm filled with confidence about everything that I'm facing in my next transition. After 21 years in hospital administration, it was my personal decision to move on to whatever life has in store for me. This is a jump-without-a-net scenario based on the belief that we are all connected in some wonderful way throughout this universe.

Some of you might ask, "Why would anyone leave a solid, meaningful, well paying job at a time like this?" Obviously, when the decision was made, it was not exactly a "time like this," but, if you track my life, it seems that the only thing that has remained consistent throughout has been my ventures into the unknown, into Whitewater. I'm sure that Christopher Columbus and I have the same astrological sign.

Looking back, it was, in many ways a very difficult ride. Truthfully, whoever told me that the wind blows the hardest at the top of the pole was absolutely accurate. Even as my tenure as a CEO counts down to days, hours, and minutes, the words spoken by a friend that "Life is not like college. Life is like high school," have probably been the most accurate.

Not unlike my 10 years as a public school music teacher, it is impossible to describe the positive emotions that have been part of this job. Thirty years later, former students still send me wonderful letters thanking me for helping them make their way through life, and a day doesn't go by in this job where people haven't thanked me for helping them work their way through a complicated and sometimes frightening system. If it all had to be summed up in one phrase, it seems to me that Angelina has it down. "Living a purpose driven life" is a wonderful thing.

I'm sure that the winds of fate will not stop blowing my way, but it is not without some degree of trepidation that I touch my heart and say a little prayer that this next chapter will not leave me feeling as if my purpose was left behind. It is my goal, my dream, and my desire that the lessons learned over a lifetime of giving in education and public administration can be passed on to those of you who are feeling your way through the morass. Don't forget me. I'm here to help. Oh, and have a wonderful holiday season.