Fond farewell from a friend

My future, I've found out, is in Harrisburg, Pa. I'm on my way there shortly. I started seeking jobs in the field of HIV/AIDS service organizations this year, mostly reading job postings and checking out the unfamiliar cities on the Web. I kept reading qualifications that I easily matched with four years of volunteer work in the field, writing a column and public speaking. I became bolder. I applied for a position that was newly created at the AIDS Community Alliance in Harrisburg as Chief Operating Officer. That's me now, that's my fun title. My work will focus on resource development and maintenance (i.e. convincing people to give money and then making them happy while doing it), writing the winning grant proposals, explaining the mission of the ACA and more of the work with the public that I've loved so much these past few years in Bloomington. I will be gone from Bloomington, but an itinerant commuter. Charles will finish his Master's here over the next year and I'll pop in and out so he doesn't forget my face. This will be my second time leaving this place, and I've finally learned that there is no finality to anything, never say never. \nI could say thanks to hundreds or maybe a couple of thousand people I've run into the past few years of my life. I won't bore you with too many details, but I will tell you something surprising -- HIV doesn't have to shrink your life, isolate you or sideline your ambitions. I admit I've occasionally thought so, but everybody has bad days.\nAnother surprising fact -- control of your life is always in your hands. I certainly learned that. Your state of health is in direct proportion to the positive outlook in your mind -- you can't talk yourself out of terminal conditions, but you can definitely make them easier to live with.\nIf I could give you any advice on living, it would be that you must always believe that you are worthy of tomorrow, and that everything about tomorrow will be cleaner, brighter and more interesting than today. That progress isn't fiscally measured by any but the most obtuse -- and those are people you might not need as your friends. Indeed progress is too individual to define.\nTime is short and the length of this column doesn't allow me to tell you everything I'd like for you to know. All the joy I found, all the love I received, all the generosity of spirit, those are items I wish I could share easily. They were the currency of my work here. Such payment is available to you, too. Volunteer -- it builds your resume very nicely.\nWhen I interviewed for this position, they liked this column very much, but I think I clinched the job by letting them in on my biggest secret. I'll share it with you.\nI told them that my goal is to end HIV transmission, to shut it down, to stop AIDS from claiming another life. In one sense, I've already succeeded -- AIDS will never claim me. It will never have another person's life through me, it will never define who I am. Dream big, love copiously, laugh often, and stop by and see me when you are in town.