Before we left the coffee shop, I ran into the ladies room.
I had so much on my mind.
We were facing a big decision and I was nervous and excited and scared to death. Have you ever felt that? The kind of feeling where you know you are on the cusp of something BIG.
While in the ladies room, I noticed a bulletin board. At the top it said, Take one or Leave one. It was decorated with 3×5 note cards. There were scriptures and jokes and sayings to encourage others. After I washed my hands, I took another look and grabbed one, then headed out the door, pushing it down in my purse.
My husband and I went on with our day, discussing our big decision, weighing the pros and cons, and communicating about how our life would change. We were a few years away from being empty nesters and this decision would change the direction of our lives. As we were discussing our big decision, I remembered the 3×5 card I had put in my purse. I read it out loud to my husband.
And just like that, we knew what we needed to do.
That was almost 6 years ago and I still have the note card. The note card is a bit bent and has a water stain on it, its edges are getting tattered, but it remains one of my favorite reminders. It not only brings me back to the day that we decided to jump out of our comfort zone and change the direction of our own lives, but it is a great filter for daily decisions and life-altering ones, too.
One single choice ended my marriage and changed the direction of my life and the lives of my boys.
One single choice of infidelity changed the entire framework of our family and has forever changed my boys; they have grieved and grown through this choice.
One single choice of getting remarried changed the direction of my life, and the lives of my husband, his children and my children.
Once single choice to marry after being single for many, many years changed the family unit and forever changed all of our lives.
One single choice of choosing to adopt a child changed the direction of our lives and many, many others.
One single choice to adopt a child changed not only our lives, and the lives of our children, but the life of our son’s birth mother and her extended family; many more lives than I ever anticipated.
One single choice can change your life for the better or change your life for the worse. Have you made that one single choice that changed the direction of your life?
When I left the coffee shop that day, I had no idea what the next few days would hold.
I had no idea that within 48 hours, a woman would hand me her son and say, “This is your son now.” I had no idea that I would fall in love with a little boy and be a Momma again. I had no idea that I would become family with a birth mom, grandmas, aunts and uncles and siblings. I thought this one single choice would change my life, but it was so much more than that. This one single choice DID change the direction of our lives, but it also changed the direction of many, many others.
