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Dustin Driver
Some of us spend years searching for the perfect job, one that won't wear us down to a nub, one that won't trigger daily tension, one that gives us a sense of satisfaction. The more we look, the more difficult the search becomes. We fall from one occupation into the next, seeking the perfect combination of job attributes like alchemists looking for the famed formula that will turn lead into gold. But just like the archaic pseudo-scientists, the pursuit is futile. The perfect job, it seems, isn't really a job at all. It's more of a drive, or even an unavoidable compulsion.

Many people who are happy with their careers simply pursue a path with dogged determination. All the rest seems to fall into place. Others simply follow happiness, never stopping to consider whether or not their jobs are "perfect." And again, things fall into place. The following three people have followed their passions to find careers (or post-career careers) that are, for all intents and purposes, perfect.
will anderson Most of us harbor enough stress to start a nuclear reaction, and attempting to dissipate that energy without triggering a meltdown seems like an almost impossible task. Not for Wil Anderson. In fact, he's an expert at defusing stress.

Anderson runs the Veranda Club Spa in Yountville, an oasis of calm and tranquility in the Napa Valley. Anderson and a staff of professional massage therapists practice Arica Chua Ka, a potent anti-stress art that involves massage and awareness of breath. The spa has been in operation for 20 years and is one of Yountville's oldest and most venerable businesses and it all started with a few massages.

"I was a tough, rigid guy," says Anderson. "Then somebody worked on my face. When I looked in the mirror I looked so different, I thought, 'I must go on with this, I must make this part of my life.'"

He was a pre-med student at the University of Southern California when he discovered massage. After his epiphany, he decided to study the art full time. "I took a few of the basic classes, then as time moved on I got more and more into deep massage work," says the Cincinnati, Ohio native. As he practiced, and was practiced on by other students, he gained a powerful new awareness.
 
"I was feeling this huge shift in my body," he says. "I went from this edgy, almost insecure person to feeling more integrated. I had an understanding of myself, in terms of my physical components. For me that was a huge shift." He knew then that he wanted to give the same gift of awareness to others.

Anderson left school to hone his massage skills in greater Los Angeles. He ran a successful massage studio with a good friend and eventually ended up as a top therapist in New York. After a few years of professional practice, he moved to Germany to teach his own classes. He and his wife left Europe in the late 1980s for the West Coast. "We were looking for an area that would be similar to where we lived in Germany," he says. "It was absolutely beautiful, with the Bavarian Alps in the background. Life was very slow. We felt that Napa was just as beautiful-if not more beautiful-and offered a similar quality of life."

The Veranda Club and Spa opened shortly thereafter. Through the years, the spa grew into a Yountville institution. Anderson became a prominent figure in the community and was the president of the Yountville Chamber of Commerce. Today, the spa is busier than ever. "We help people feel more secure about their physical being," he says. "With massage, you are reminded that you have a body. You learn how to preserve the body and stay healthy. With the breathing experience, you are changing the state of the body and the mind because they are integrated. The body-mind connection becomes clearer and there's more comfort for the body and the mind, more agreement than contradiction."

Anderson has no plans to leave Veranda in the foreseeable future. And as long as there's stress in the world, he'll have plenty of work on his hands. "We have our doors open for those who are interested in clarifying their bodies and minds."

Wil Anderson
Proprietor, Veranda Club Spa
6795 Washington Street
Yountville, CA 94599
Phone: (707) 944-1906
Toll free: (877) 912-5068
wil@inreach.com
plotinusw@aim.com
Marge Elliott always knew she wanted to help people, but she never thought she'd end up helping birds, too. "I like working with people and I've always felt that nursing is where my skills would be best used," she says. "And I was a nurse for 35 years." Now in retirement, Elliott works at the International Bird Rescue and Research Center (IBRRC) in Suisun as a volunteer, rehabilitating distressed waterfowl and other birds. "It's the best job in the world," she says. "It's hard work sometimes, but the rewards far surpass many other jobs. I'm constantly learning something new. I'm working with wonderful people and the birds are awesome to work with."

The IBRRC operates three centers that rehabilitate birds that have been in oil or fuel spills or have suffered from other man-made calamities. The center in Suisun handles birds (and other animals) from northern California, mostly from the Suisun Marsh. It's also one of the few centers that specialize in caring for waterfowl.

So how did Elliott end up at the IBRRC? Her daughter, a biologist, suggested a short stint as a volunteer at the center. After a few days helping the center's volunteers and veterinarians rehabilitate local wildlife, she was hooked. "Once you get involved with this and see the animals up close, you realize that they're all part of the whole scheme of life," she says. "It's something that you learn over and over again as you work here."

Elliot's volunteer work was, at first, very simple. "I was doing clean-up and basic things around the center like laundry and dishes," she says. "As time went on, I learned more about caring for the birds." She quickly learned how to feed, clean up after and keep an eye on the sick and injured birds that end up at the center. Within a few months she was assisting the vets in more delicate feeding procedures and minor medical care. Most sick birds, for instance, lack the strength to gulp down whole fish or other food and must be fed a nutritious slurry of fish and vitamins through a short tube. The birds must be held and comforted during the feeding procedure. Now, with a few years' experience under her belt, Elliott also administers some medication to the sick birds, ensuring their survival until they can be released into the wild.

The IBRRC depends heavily on volunteers like Elliott. The centers are able to employ a few staff members, but money is tight and full-time employees are expensive. Elliott usually works two days a week, eight hours a day. When disaster strikes-a spill or other catastrophe-she may work more hours. Still, it's all worth it to the former nurse. "I think you always get so much more than you give when you volunteer," she says. "You get outside of your own world a little more, you meet people, you don't think about your own problems as much. To me, I feel that you get more out of life if you get into it and give a little more of yourself."

Marge Elliott
Veteran Volunteer,
International Bird Rescue
and Research Center
Phone: (707) 207-0380
www.ibrrc.org
Chuck Elles aboard his ship Trying to keep Chuck Elles in a cubicle would be a lot like trying to contain a cougar in a cat carrier. He's been a professional stunt skier, a salvage diver and an underwater welder. Today he pilots a 135-foot, 6,000-horsepower catamaran. "I could never work in an office," he admits. "It's just not me."

Elles is a ferryboat captain for the Blue & Gold Fleet. A veteran sailor who's been plying the waters of San Francisco Bay for about two decades, he makes two to three trips a day from Vallejo to the in San Francisco waterfront, ferrying about 200 passengers during a loaded trip. He has the steely nerves of a man who has executed countless mid-air twists and tumbles while wearing a pair of skis, the calm disposition of someone who's faced being frapp�ed by giant propeller blades while conducting underwater repairs.

His Philadelphia childhood was, like his careers, fraught with some degree of danger. "I was in trouble a lot of the time as a kid," he says with a smile. "I was really into sports. I was on the high dive team, I was on the cross country team." After high school, Elles and his buddy became "ski bums," living and working at ski resorts in Vermont. They waited tables by night and skied by day, training to go pro as stunt skiers. After honing some serious skills, the pair moved to Tahoe, where they jumped, flipped and twisted their way to mild stardom. After Tahoe, they became stunt skiers at, of all places, San Francisco's Pier 39.

"We did ski jumps during the winter at the pier," he says. Elles and his buddy skied without snow, greasing their skis with liquid Teflon and sailing off ramps onto huge airbags. "My best trick was a double back with a full twist."

He took the plunge into professional scuba diving while working on the pier. "We always saw the divers coming and going and I though it would be a cool job," he says. After some certification courses, Elles was in the bay, squinting through murky water, looking for salvage and assisting with underwater repairs. His love affair with undersea work lasted about two years. Then he spotted the ferries and, as luck would have it, a pretty girl.

"My girlfriend at the time was working on the ferries," he says. "She really got me interested in working on the boats and becoming a captain." His girl eventually became his wife and the first female ferryboat captain on the bay. Elles was her right-hand man on the boat for a few years before he earned his captain's stripes. Now he steers state-of-the art boats across the bay at a brisk 40 miles an hour. They are, for the most part, the fastest things on the water and a lot of fun. "I'm lucky because I'm out here on the water and it's an exciting job," he says. "Every landing I make is different and it's challenging and fun."

Chuck Elles
Captain, Blue & Gold Fleet
Phone: (415) 705-8200