It's all about our choices

I had a couple recent conversations with friends that to me, illustrate the long term impact of some of the choices we make each day. One friend started off telling me about spending the entire weekend in bed, crying, eating every and anything in sight, forgetting about personal hygiene, in other words, acute depression. She was grieving the sudden death of a close friend. And while my friend suffered in her misery, her HUSBAND, spent the entire day, in the same house, NOT talking to her and loudly, poorly, playing a saxophone in the next room. Another friend shared about meeting "the perfect man"; she described how comfortable they were from the beginning "he SAW me!", she proclaimed. The more time they spent together, the more this felt "right." For once, he seemed to be just as into her as she was into him. The problem? Well, he was 15 years her junior. "I don't want people laughing at me behind my back, calling me a cradle robber!", my friend sobbed, even as she informed me that she was ending the relationship. A couple years ago, I lived in a different state ; my grandmother suffered a stroke and eventually was placed in a nursing home; her prognosis was guarded. I was facing a crossroad at the time, career wise, and made the choice to return to my home state. As I adjusted to my move, I made a point to spend as much time as possible with my grandmother. During this time, we shared and talked about things I had always been too busy to talk about before. This old woman has always been the one person I knew who "got" me!! I loved her, love her, with all my heart, and I was able to tell her that. . . I'm glad I can write this now, because, she died within 2 months of my return. I miss her still but when I think of her, it's with peace and joy for the final days we spent together.



It's about our choices!! Had I chosen to remain where I was or move to a different state, I would have missed this time with my granny. My friend is living with a insensitive clod and dreaming about the guy she let get away, "the love of my life"! And my other friend has just possibly thrown away her treasure. We are not promised anything more than right now, this minute. We should make the most of it and live life to the fullest. Careers, what other people think about us, material possessions, none of these things help to fulfill our purpose, only love and connections to others matter. And every day that we choose love, we choose a good thing!!