I have spent nearly 30 years asking some version of the same question: Why does it have to be this way? I started my career in the broom closet of a foster care agency, driving kids to visits, appointments, school, and wherever else they needed to go. It wasn't exactly the beginning of a carefully mapped executive career. But it gave me a front row seat to a system I would spend the next three decades trying to understand, challenge, and occasionally aggravate. Somewhere in the years that followed, I built one of the largest foster care programs in South Florida, was recognized nationally with a Congressional Award, and ultimately became President and CEO of Children's Harbor, where I spent nearly a decade leading a team dedicated to supporting teenagers in and aging out of foster care. We made some big changes. Took some scary risks. Got some things wrong. And changed the conversation about what residential group care could look like in this Country, IF we loved our kids well. And now, I'm walking away from a career that has defined most of my adult life and trying to figure out what “more” looks like after you've built the life you thought you wanted. I'm writing more. Traveling more. Speaking when I have something worth saying. And spending a lot more time thinking about the complicated, uncomfortable, and occasionally ridiculous questions hiding inside the lives we've built. You'll find some of that writing through The Daily Drip, and at "The Dhooge Den" on Substack, which I created with my husband, Mark. I don't know exactly what comes next. And I'm resisting the urge to turn that into another five year strategic plan. We'll see how long that lasts. Come find me on Substack: https://thedhoogeden.substack.com/p/start-here