Choices

in Giggles on July 27, 2021

Everyday we each have choices to make. We start our day with choices.

Should I get out of bed?

Or should I just stay in bed? It’s nice and cozy in my bed…and who knows what’s going to greet me once my feet hit the floor.

We have choices about what to eat, what to drink, what to wear, where to go, and who to hang out with.

When I wake up cranky, my youngest inevitably will ask me, “Mom, why did you so obviously wake up and choose violence?”

Of course he’s kidding…I don’t actually choose violence…on most days. Now, those reading this who are blessed with young ones at home, y’all have special choices that flow freely through your days. Choices such as, “milk or water,” “cereal or pancake,” “peanut butter and jelly or ham and cheese,”.

But, these are all choices.

Choices give us the illusion that we have some sort of control over the lives we lead. And to some extent we do.

Back in the ‘90’s, Country Music singer, Alan Jackson was breaking onto the music scene in a large and in charge sort of way. He is most definitely in my Top 5 favorites of all time singers. Not only is he fun to look at, can sing, loves Jesus and his Momma, BUT he’s also got some SERIOUS (and I do mean SERIOUS) nerve.

Along with the Oscars and Grammys…Country Music also gives out their own awards. Well, back in the ‘90’s (I wanna say 1999), one of the two major Country Music award entities decided to effectively snub the legendary George Jones. Now, Jones up to this point had been making music and charting music for over FORTY YEARS. He was, in fact, nominated that very year for SINGLE OF THE YEAR. The Association was only giving this legend sixty seconds to sing his song that was nominated for Single of the Year, which was basically telling him, “you’re not worth the air time.”

George Jones boycotted the event and stayed home.

He made a choice.

Which brings me back to Alan Jackson. He also made a choice. He was a relative new-comer into country music, in that he’d not been around for forty years, yet he had been given more play/air time than sixty seconds. So, halfway through his own song, his band stopped—and transitioned nicely into the legendary Jones’s song, so aptly named, Choices.

Ironic name, don’t you think?

The crowd in the auditorium went WILD. Within a heartbeat, every single person was on their feet. George Jones got his sixty seconds…just not the way the big-wig-powers-that-be had envisioned. Alan Jackson finished the song, and without a word or a nod, took his guitar, and exited stage right; unable to control his anger at the way a country music icon had just been treated. https://youtu.be/tJVp6FM0aH0

Now, I told you that story, to tell you this one.

We all have choices to make, each and every day. Moms, I’m talking to you…Dads, I suppose you can listen it, too. It’s so easy to get sucked into the social media vacuum and think that everyone else’s life is so much better than your own. That nobody except you is struggling. That YOU are the only one who can’t manage to keep up with laundry or the dishes or remember what the actual floor covering in your living room looks like because there have been toys scattered all over the place for the last five years. Nobody but you struggles with money issues or argues with their spouse, or doesn’t sleep through the night. Everyone else’s kid ALWAYS eats everything on their plate.

Your phone, your tablet, your computer…are hand-held movie devices that bring Hollywood into the palm of your hand. The choice of whether of not your believe what’s on that screen is up to you. Because what you see on social media, just as in Hollywood blockbusters, is pure fiction.

I don’t have little ones at my house anymore. But when I did, I can tell you that I didn’t sleep for a decade. Someone was ALWAYS crying. To this day, I can’t tell you why. I was told recently how nice my life must be because I “married my money”…meaning, I don’t work…I never did work. That’s funny. I remember things differently. I had three kids under the age of two, with no multiple births.

Yes. I worked. And, I worked HARD.

But, you see, that was my choice.

I didn’t marry into money. We had no money when we got married. We had enough to live on, which is all anyone needs. My husband and I worked as a team. My job was to raise our children, take care of our house, so that he could walk away from our home every day and do what he needed to do in order to provide for us, care for us, FEED us—-all without worrying that his family (wife and children) were unsafe. My job took place within the walls of our home. We were, and are a team.

That was the choice we made when we got married.

That choice looks different for a lot of people. That choice pisses off certain people, just like Alan Jackson’s choice to defend George Jones irritated certain people. My choice irritates certain people.

We are never going to make everyone happy all the time. We each do the best we can. My immediate responsibility is to my husband and my children. If you are a parent, and you are reading this, I hope you find comfort in those words. The only caveat I offer to that, is that if you are in a dangerous or unhealthy situation, your children come first.

From the Legend, himself:

I’ve had choices since the day that I was born, There were voices that told me right from wrong, If I had listened—no I wouldn’t be here today, Living and dying with the choices I’ve made.

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