Choice makes living much more agreeable. Like the other day when I was debating over the two packs of stickers that I wanted to decorate the front cover of my monthly planner (yes, I still use a paper one. My friends have told me there are apps for these things, but I don't believe them). The choice had been narrowed down to Princesses and Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles. This was a difficult decision. But then, a shining beam of florescent light came down and revealed 55 stickers dedicated to rockets, planets, space ships, and dinosaurs wearing glass space helmets! Crises resolved!
My Labor Day morning was spent placing the perfect stickers on the planner cover. And oh, does it look lovely.
Speaking of choices, during our latest grocery shopping excursion, I was reflecting on the explosion of choices now available for vegetarians. When I began my no-meat life over twenty years ago, restaurant menu options were narrowed to salad. Which wouldn't have been so hideous if salads back then weren't reduced to iceberg lettuce and a shivering of carrot grating.
My favorite joys were people's comments to my veggie ways. The most humorous, and shockingly common one was: if there was nothing left to eat in the world but a cow, would you eat it?
When people are that desperate, they eat dead bodies! Of course I would eat the cow. After I ate the guy who asked the stupid question.
Our new puppy, Daisy, has a whirlwind of choices to make every moment. We can just see her pleasure seeking brain jumping from one potential adventure to the next. She doesn't bother with much internal brainly debate, though. She's more of the physical type (while still extremely intelligent, mind you!). Her doggie Disneyland life often lures her into the backyard. There she is beckoned into chasing large black beetles, grass moved by wind, gophers that courageously poke their head above ground, and cat poop lurking behind the pine tree. After each of these has been attacked, her tail is always available, yet ever elusive.
Our old dog, Sydney, has decided to forgo such choices. In her time she was more exhilarated by learning how to snatch glass jars off the counters and pry them open to eat the food, candy, nuts or chocolate hidden within. Or jumping through the glass door in order to attack the mailman. Or escaping through a barely open car window while I was driving in the parking lot of the dog park.
Nowadays, her choices are where to take the best nap, how to position her sleeping body on the kitchen floor so that I will trip over her while holding a pan of boiling water, or whether to walk one block or two. So, she still has choices.
And I am overly thankful that she is still around to make those choices.
Well, I've got to go check out my newly decorated monthly planner. Show it off to the teens I am lucky enough to have as sons. They won't be much impressed though. They have no idea how blessed they are with all of the sticker choices available in this modern age. Nothing like when I was a kid, limited to princesses and turtles.
Have a great day of choice making!
Heather Leigh,
Advocate of a zillion choice world
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