Life is about choices. We must always try to make the wisest choices possible. Every choice we make impacts our lives in some way. Sometimes the impact is minimal. Does it really matter if I eat tuna salad or fried chicken for lunch? Maybe. If the tuna is bad, that choice changes my whole day.
Something as simple as word choice in certain company can make or break a career. A few wrong words to the right person could result in termination of employment. Conversely, choosing your words carefully while visiting with those in power can greatly help your climb up the corporate ladder.
Other choices have the power to change our lives exponentially. I lived roughly 100 miles from my home town for a couple of years. When it was time for a change, I debated about whether to move to St. Louis, Kansas City, or back home. Moving home felt like failure, but I ultimately made that decision when my job transferred me to a city near where I grew up.
The choice to return home forever changed my life. I met the man that I now call my husband exactly one year after moving home. I had broken up with my boyfriend a few months prior and casually dated for a while. No one seemed worth the effort. I just didn’t click with anyone. In fact, I had given up on dating and decided to focus on becoming the best version of myself possible.
Then one day a friend of my mom’s asked if I would be interested in having dinner at her house. I accepted, and told her to let me know when. I thought she was having a Tupperware party or something. The dinner party never happened, and I completely forgot about it.
A month later, which was December, I was at work when I received a bouquet of roses from a man that I had never met. I’d never even heard of the guy. It sounds like that old TV commercial, right? Well, it really happened to me. He referenced my mom’s friend in his note and asked me to call him if I was interested in meeting him.
I immediately called Mom’s friend and asked what she had done. She explained that her dinner party was supposed to be an introduction for the two of us, but he decided against it. She went on to assure me that he was a good man. He was also a recently divorced father of two.
I tried to call him that night, but he didn’t answer. Instead, he popped in to where I was working the next day, and I came face to face with my future. I’ve never reacted so strongly to another person in my life. I stopped breathing when I saw him. He was a giant red-headed dream with kind blue eyes and a gorgeous smile who towered over me.
We started dating in January. We were engaged on Valentine’s Day and married in October of that year. I went from being a single woman trying to find myself to being a wife and step-mom with my hands full of family life in a short space of time. It’s been a wild ride that has flown by.
If I hadn’t transferred back home, I would never have met Jim to whom I have been married for many years. I would not have these two wonderful adult step-children who I was lucky enough to help raise. Those step-children have made me Nana to two grandchildren, which is the role I was born to play.
I moved home only thinking short term. I wasn’t planning to stay here. Moving home was the best choice I’ve ever made, and it looks like I’m here for good. I came home and found my heart. I chose very wisely.
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