Dear Baby,

I always used to tell my students, “In every situation, you have a choice. At the very least, you get to choose your attitude.” I think choices are very interesting because of the lasting impact they can have. I’m talking about the choices we make that not only alter the direction of our lives, but have a profound effect on those we love. The amazing thing is though, ultimately, what we choose to do with our lives is our choice. We can choose to hurt or heal, we can choose to dance or run, we can choose to talk or listen. There’s so much freedom in having the choice. I heard this quote once:

“No trumpets sound when life decisions are made. Destiny comes silently.”
Agnes de Mille

That makes a lot of sense to me, too. I think when we make choices, we expect to immediately see the huge impact of these choices, but the reality is that for the majority of our decisions, our destiny comes quietly, slowly. I’ve also realized that sometimes the decisions we thought were huge, were not, and the decisions we thought were insignificant, were not. What all this means is, we have to make the best decisions we can, and grow from there. We have to consider the effects of our choices on our lives and on the lives of others. My hope is that even when no trumpets sound, you will be a confident decision maker; that you will think of others, and create a legacy for yourself in which you can take great pride.

Love,
Mama